Michael Marra: Scotland has the right to decide its own future, says Scottish Labour leader

The new leader of Scottish Labour has said Scotland has the right to decide its own future.

Michael Marra was elected on Saturday to replace Anas Sarwar, who quit Holyrood for the House of Lords.

The Scottish Government will lead a debate in Holyrood on Tuesday pushing for another independence referendum, with the vote expected to back the Government motion with the help of votes from the Scottish Greens.

Speaking to STV News while on a visit to Dundee and Angus College on Monday, Marra said: “I believe that the people of Scotland have the right to decide their future, and they did so in 2014.

“In 1997, they gave an unequivocal answer on both of those occasions. And the challenge, I know in the Parliament this week that the SNP are going to have to be held to, is how they build that settled will of the Scottish people that we actually produced in the 1980s and 1990s when I was but a boy.

“The Labour Party went about the job about delivering that settled will when answering the questions that people had.

“Now that’s the hard yards that the SNP has to do.”