Euan McColm: Michael Marra or Monica Lennon - with the right leader there is still a chance to resurrect Scottish Labour

After a disastrous Holyrood election result and the sudden departure of leader Anas Sarwar for the House of Lords, from where he’ll serve in Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s new Government, the party is up to its ears in the latest of the series of crises that have marked a two-decade-long battle to find some kind of relevance.

But Scottish Labour has been written off in the past – not least after the humiliation of being left with a single Scottish MP after the 2015 General Election. The party’s subsequent Scottish Parliamentary election result a year later – coming third behind the SNP and the Conservatives – had some writing its obituary.

Against all expectations, the party eventually began to show signs of revival and, ironically, it was the arrival of Sarwar as leader in 2021 that began that slow process.

He may have crashed and burned before Burnham bailed him out but, for a while at least, Sarwar looked like a contender to become first minister.

Labour’s landslide General Election victory in 2024 had pollsters predicting Sarwar was on his way to Bute House.

That didn’t last.

Of course, the swift fall in popularity of Sir Keir Starmer, which commenced almost immediately after Labour’s landslide General Election win in 2024, did not help matters, something Sarwar recognised when he called in February of this year for the now-deposed PM to stand down.

Sarwar is not, however, entirely blameless. His leadership began well but some serious political misjudgements, including his decision to throw his party’s support behind former first minister Nicola Sturgeon's hugely unpopular plans allow anyone to self-identify into the legally recognised sex of their choosing, knocked him off course.

Later, after that legislation had been blocked by then Conservative Scottish Secretary Alister Jack, Sarwar expressed his regret for ever backing it.

Sarwar’s damaged credibility never quite recovered from that decision and his confidence seemed to evaporate.

For now, the woman who has served as Scottish Labour’s deputy leader since 2020, Dame Jackie Baillie will step up and take control of the party, but she has already ruled out a run for the top job.

Proving that politics is a game for masochists, there are already a number of potential successors, vying for position.

The Edinburgh Southern MSP Daniel Johnson has been mentioned, as has the Glasgow list member Paul Sweeney, but party insiders are increasingly certain that, should there be a leadership contest, it will be contest between North East MSP Michael Marra, and Monica Lennon, who will take up a seat on the Glasgow regional list now that Sarwar has gone.

This will not be a fair fight. Marra – who I have known a little since before his election to Holyrood – is a serious political thinker with a good strategic brain. Lennon is a social media politician, good at the photo-op but not considered a heavyweight by colleagues. Even if she were to win the leadership contest, she is not a leader and victory would not make her so.

Of course, even if Scottish Labour members make the correct choice and choose Marra, the party’s recovery is not guaranteed.

The next Scottish Labour leader has a long and difficult road ahead. This has been so for the past nine holders of the position, each of whom has acknowledged the scale of the task facing them and then failed to complete it.

The manner of Sarwar’s departure has fed into the SNP’s long-standing narrative that Scottish Labour is no more than a branch office of the UK party.

The temptation for whoever takes over will be, as it has for others have in the past, to rise to that accusation.

That’s a mistake Marra, Lennon, or whoever succeeds Sarwar should not make.

Scottish Labour will never be independent enough for the SNP. And to slap back to that particular taunt would be, as it always has, entirely counter productive.

A good humoured and frank acknowledgement from the new leader of the size of the party’s problem is necessary but chatter about “lessons to be learned” and “reaching out” should be kept to the bare minimum. If Scottish Labour has learned one thing over the last 20 years, surely it must be that the electorate is fully uninterested in hearing about how it is going to do better.

The sliver of hope for whoever takes over from Sarwar comes in the form of new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

The idea that Burnham is a political giant remains a novel one but, right now, he has momentum and his declared mission of increasing devolution across the UK creates the opportunity for the next leader of Scottish Labour to be seen to actually do things from the off.

Assuming party members make the sensible decision and choose Marra, he must demand of Burnham that he delivers significant, appreciable change in Scotland.

This, painful though it may be, the new leader should do this while at all times behaving with grace towards First Minister John Swinney.

Nobody needs to hear a Scottish Labour leader picking fights right now and the party shouldn’t waste energy on trying to create unnecessary conflict.

There are five years until the next Holyrood election. Scottish Labour has some time.

Naturally, during their first discussion after Burnham’s installation by colleagues as prime minister, Swinney demanded the UK Government agree to a second independence referendum. Burnham completed this little dance by refusing.

That nonsense out of the way, Swinney faces his own challenges. After 19 years in office, the SNP is tired and out of ideas.

If the next Scottish Labour leader can quietly and effectively help Burnham deliver for Scotland, he or she might have a chance of saving their party.