Date decided for Scottish Labour to announce new leader
The party's new leader will be announced on November 18
Scottish Labour's new leader will be announced on November 18, the party's executive committee has announced.
Committee members met in Stirling to decide the next step in appointing a successor to Kezia Dugdale, who resigned last week.
Following the meeting, the party announced the deadline to sign up to take part in the vote will be October 9.
Party members, affiliated supporters and registered supporters who join before that date will be eligible to vote, with membership fees ranging from ÂŁ3 to ÂŁ48 a year.
Two MSPs are currently in the running for the job - former trade union organiser Richard Leonard who was elected to Holyrood in 2016, and the party's health spokesman and former deputy leader Anas Sarwar.
Nominations will close on September 17 and the contest will then run for two months, with the vote on November 17.
Eight regional hustings will be held, as well as a Women's and a Young Persons' hustings.
Interim Scottish Labour leader Alex Rowley, who has ruled himself out of the race, said: “Today the executive of the Scottish Labour party has agreed a process for a leadership election.
“Labour is on the up in Scotland. This week we won two by-elections in parts of Scotland the SNP thought were safe for years.”
He said the party has “begun to regain the trust of the Scottish people”, adding: “Our next leader will have a great platform to build on, taking us towards the 2021 election where we have a real chance of forming a government.”
Ms Dugdale is the third Scottish Labour leader to have resigned since the 2014 independence referendum, with predecessors Johann Lamont and Jim Murphy both having stood down.
She led the party for two years, taking over in the wake of the near Labour wipeout at the 2015 general election when the party lost all but one of its MPs.
Mr Leonard is seen as the left-wing candidate to replace her in contrast to his more centrist rival.
Both leadership hopefuls have praised the UK party leader Jeremy Corbyn, despite Mr Sarwar backing his challenger in the last UK leadership election.
Mr Sarwar said he will “unite” the party in Scotland, while Mr Leonard said he offers “real change”.
Mr Sarwar secured the backing of almost half of Scottish Labour's parliamentarians within a day of him announcing he would stand, who said his campaign would be “conducted in a comradely spirit”.
Meanwhile the Campaign for Socialism, the left-leaning group in Scottish Labour, has announced it is backing Mr Leonard's leadership campaign, citing a crucial element as his “vocal support” of Mr Corbyn for UK party leader.
In a statement, CfS said it viewed Mr Leonard as “not just the most credible leader of Scottish Labour, but Labour's most credible candidate to become First Minster”.
The statement continued: “We need a Scottish Labour leader who is not tied to the mistakes of the past, but is able to take us forward and build on the successes that Corbyn and the UK party has seen over recent months. Richard Leonard will be that candidate."