Future of UK Labour party will be in the hands of next Scottish leader

The timing of the resignation of Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale in August 2017 may have come as a surprise, but her decision to step down after just two years has not. The eighth Scottish Labour leader to come and go since the creation of the Scottish parliament in 1999, her legacy is one of managed decline.

The forthcoming leadership election in Scotland would be one of the most important since 1999. Rather than a clash of personalities, it was far more likely to be a battle between the left and right of the party and be of importance to the Labour Party in the wider UK.