ANY QUOTES USED MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO MURNAGHAN, SKY NEWS

DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Now there are just four days to go until key elections in many parts of the UK, not least in Scotland and after Labour’s almost total wipe-out there in last year’s general election, all eyes will be on the party to see if a new leader, both north and south of the border, can change its fortunes.  I am joined now by Kezia Dugdale, the leader of Scottish Labour, she’s in our Edinburgh studio, a very good morning to you Ms Dugdale.  You’ve seen the polls, we’ve all seen them, there are questions now about your career plans after next Thursday.  

KEZIA DUGDALE: There are four days  left of campaigning in this election and I’m going to spend every one of those days making the case for how we can use the powers of the Scottish parliament to stop Tory cuts, to ask the richest 1% to pay their fair share so that we can invest in our schools and stop cuts to vital public services like our NHS.  Whenever I go across the country with that message about how we can build and invest in Scotland’s future, we get a warm response.  Our plans to reintroduce the top rate of tax, a 50p top rate of tax, something that Nicola Sturgeon used to support, are supported by 75% of people in Scotland so the job now is to turn that support for our policies into votes on the day.

DM: But you’re seeing the polls, they don’t seem to be moving.  If you did finish in terms of numbers of seats, third behind the Conservative party, you would have to consider your position wouldn’t you?    

KEZIA DUGDALE: I’m going to remain leader of the Scottish Labour party because I have a long-term plan to renew the fortunes of my party, a party that has many great achievements behind it,  not least the Scottish parliament, the national minimum wage, the creation of the NHS and I believe a very bright future too but people want to vote for something positive over the next few days and what we have in Scotland is a plan to invest in Scotland’s future, to reduce that gap between the richest and poorest children in our schools, a problem that has been stubbornly growing over the past eight years and we have a plan to do that with our Fair Start fund, extra money into the hands of head teachers to close that gap between the richest and poorest pupils.  We can only make that plan though and put that plan forward because we’re prepared to use the powers of the parliament, to talk about progressive taxes, to ask those with the broadest shoulders to pay a bit more in tax.  That’s why I have advocated using the tax powers of the parliament to make that difference but if people want to see those progressive fresh new ideas about how we can transform Scotland, they have to vote for it.  They have to use both their votes for Labour on Thursday.

DM: I mean you are talking as if you might take power, we know that’s never going to happen but let’s be explicit about this, come what may in terms of the result, you’re staying on as leader?

KEZIA DUGDALE: Absolutely, I have a plan to renew the Scottish Labour party and I’m never going to give up hope of fighting for power.  I came into politics to transform this country, I believe the Labour party has values, the ideas to transform Scotland, to tackle that poverty and inequality that is still too dominant across the country so we have an ambitious manifesto, a prospectus for change, a platform for government and I’m going to spend the next four days talking about how we are going to deliver on those ideals and those values of the Labour party.  It’s not enough for me to aspire to lead the opposition, I believe the Labour party has the ideas that Scotland needs for the future, to make sure that every child, every citizen can fulfil their potential and that we can grow our economy so that we can compete for the jobs of the future and bring those opportunities to Scotland.  That involves investing in the skills and the knowledge of our people.  There is no future for Scotland in competing for low skilled, low paid work, there are a billion people around the world prepared to do that, we have to bring highly skilled decent jobs to Scotland, we have to invest in the skills and the knowledge of our people to do that and that means investing in education. You can’t get a world class education system on the cheap though, someone has to pay and that’s why I’m saying we have to have progressive taxes, we have to ask those with the broadest shoulders to pay a bit more so that we can build that future that I think so many people in Scotland want to see.  

DM: What is your assessment then of the row that’s taking place at the very heart of Labour about anti-Semitism and do you think Ken Livingstone has done a lot of damage to the Labour offering?  

KEZIA DUGDALE: Unquestionably yes, Ken Livingstone’s remarks have been appalling and have dominated the news over the past week when I would much rather we were talking about the bread and butter issues that the electorate want us to talk about, how we are going to improve our schools, how we are going to invest in our NHS and build a future in Scotland, and indeed across the whole United Kingdom that we want to see, a fairer and more equal society and a news agenda dominated by Ken Livingstone’s remarks doesn’t help in that regard but, you know, he’s been suspended, there is an investigation underway now by a very highly regarded individual in Shami Chakrabarti and I hope that over the next few days we can focus on those bread and butter issues on how to build that fairer, more equal society.

DM: But the issue of anti-Semitism raises its head every now and again in Scotland and not just in the Labour party but in the SNP, would you like all parties be explicit about the intolerance of such attitudes?   

KEZIA DUGDALE: Look, I’m not going to try and score party political points in that regard, I take all forms of anti-Semitism, all forms of racism, extremely seriously.  I’m in the Labour party because I believe in tackling inequality and making the case for everyone having equal rights and a bright future together and I am going to continue to campaign for that. Now I want to see this issue taken very seriously, I want the right course of action to be taken but I also want in the last four days of this election campaign to move on to the substantive issues of this Scottish parliament election campaign so how we use the new powers of the Scottish parliament to build that fairer more equal country that I believe the vast majority of people in Scotland want to see.   

DM: What is this about you as a student offering to work for the SNP, do you think that’s been leaked deliberately?  

KEZIA DUGDALE: I’ve said before I believe there is an element of dirty tricks.  What this is story is about, for many of your viewers who maybe haven’t heard it before is that I ‘apparently’ because I can’t remember, 13 years ago applied for work experience with my local MSP and somehow this is presenting itself as me being a secret nationalist, a secret supporter of the SNP which is just absolute nonsense and has the elements of the dirty tricks about it.  The reality is I’m Labour to my core because I believe fundamentally in the values of the Labour party to tackle poverty and inequality and I’ve led this election campaign with those values right at the forefront of my beliefs and how we can use the powers of the Scottish parliament to deliver that brighter future for Scotland in the here and now, not in some distant promised land but now, with the powers that the parliament is going to get over tax and welfare.  We now have the chance, the potential, the possibility of making different choices from the Tories and I will continue to fight for that.   

DM: I’m sorry Ms Dugdale, we’re out of time.  Kezia Dugdale, the leader of Scottish Labour.