GO BILL!

Below a shameless cut and paste from Bill Butler's website. Shame he's not standing for Leader but at least there is a clear red line here between the policies he believes in and New Labour.

"We need a strong leadership team at Holyrood which will work with all sections of the party to shape a progressive policy programme and build the modern organisational structure needed to deliver it.
I will be calling for a root and branch review of the party’s structure, and constitution to meet the demands of the 21st century political arena. I also pledge to involve all members and affiliates in a revamped Policy Forum process; an inclusive process in which all sections of the movement can take part. I believe the voice of Labour’s membership is central to the party’s policymaking process and campaigning strategy.
I will argue in favour of policies which:
tackle poverty and inequality,
promote jobs,
develop people’s skills and widen access to education and training,
encourage parity of esteem between Holyrood and local government,
enable democratic involvement,
create safer communities,
support culture and sport,
build a better integrated, more responsive transport system,
protect our environment,
provide lifelong educational opportunities for all, and
improve our NHS.
Policies that make a difference, including:
The taking back into public ownership of the railways
Re-regulation of the buses
The establishment of a Scottish Investment Bank
The expansion of apprenticeships
A root and branch reform of the Council Tax
Greater investment in public sector rented housing
An equality of funding between PFI and conventional procurement

UNISON SCOTLAND BACKS JAMIESON AND BUTLER

As UNISON Scotland last year backed John McDonnell for Labour Leader, looks like this one is officially the left ticket then....... below from PA:

Labour leadership contender Cathy Jamieson has won the backing of party supporters in the trade union Unison, it has been announced.
The union's Scottish LabourLink - which represents the 55,000 Unison members affiliated to Labour - said it was supporting her.It is also backing Bill Butler for the post of Labour's deputy leader at Holyrood.Ms Jamieson, the former justice minister, is competing against ex-enterprise minister Iain Gray and former health minister Andy Kerr to succeed Wendy Alexander.Members of Unison Scottish LabourLink met all the leadership candidates on Tuesday night.Afterwards chair of the group Pat Rowland said: "We heard a series of excellent presentations from all the candidates in this important election and were impressed by the range of ideas and the quality of all the candidates."However, the committee overwhelmingly believes that Cathy Jamieson and Bill Butler best reflect the key Labour values that Unison believes the party has to champion if Labour is to retain the support of working people."