Our long-standing electoral agreement means that many of our members are also active in their local Labour parties, working alongside Labour activists up and down the country to deliver victories for representatives who share Labour and Co-operative values.

The most recent of these occasions was in the Dumfermline Holyrood byelection last week, where the the Scottish Party Council joined Labour’s Scottish Leader, Labour and Co-op MSP Johann Lamont to campaign for Cara Hilton. The following Thursday Cara overturned an SNP majority to make Dunfermiline the second safest Labour seat in the country with a seven percent swing to Labour.

With a family background strongly rooted in the Co-operative Party and having previously represented Falkirk East, Cathy’s return to the Scottish Parliament is excellent news for Scottish Party and our wider movement.

The Party Executive is about to start interviews for the Holyrood Panel since Labour began the selection of their priority seats in November. Already a number of candidates have expressed interest, but only those already on the Labour candidates list may apply.