Our politics is about people not flags.

The test is can you do something, rather than have a theoretical argument – can you make a difference?

Scotland cannot be the only ‘something for nothing’ country in the world.

My Scottish Labour Party is a crusade – to fight poverty, inequality and injustice.

If I have learned one thing in life, it is never to take any man’s own estimate of himself. He could very well be mistaken.

While I’m leader, nothing will be off limits – there will not be one policy, one rule, one way of working which cannot be changed.

The government don’t want to talk about the consequences of the choices they make. They pretend there aren’t any consequences.

I’ve got a very deep and abiding passion about education being far more than buildings and textbooks; it’s what children bring into school with them.

I love hard political debate and I love beating somebody on a political point but what I’m more frustrated by is the politics where you play the man not the politics.

I’m pretty proud of having completed a marathon myself, so I can only imagine the pride that real athletes feel when they are picked for the Olympic or the Paralympic Games.