Labour leadership candidate Leonard vows party will rediscover socialism
an industrial strategy which considers public ownership of ScotRail, Royal Mail, renewable energy and oil and gas.
He also pledged to bring forward rent controls to prevent tenants being exploited.
He said it would be called a “Mary Barbour law”, named after the leader of the Glasgow rent strikes in the 1930s.
Other policies include giving workers the right to buy their companies when they were up for sale or facing closure, and a review of controversial private finance deals for public projects.
He said: “Why shouldn’t those who create the wealth have a right to own the wealth they create?
“And I will commit to an urgent and comprehensive review of how we fund our public projects and infrastructure so that no longer does it provide a cash bonanza to absentee shareholders. Our public services are there to serve the Scottish public, not the balance sheets of financiers.”
Meanwhile, Anas Sarwar launched his Scottish Labour leadership campaign on Friday evening. He said he was “parking his tank” in the heart of Nicola Sturgeon’s constituency to highlight years of failure by the SNP in tackling poverty.
Sarwar said that the SNP had presided over £ 400million of cuts to Glasgow and that it was a “national disgrace” half the chi ld ren in St u rgeon’s constituency were deprived.
He said he would pursue policies to end austerity, end the gender pay gap and lift children out of poverty, and launch “an action plan to rescue our NHS”.
SNP MSP James Dornan described the leadership contest as the “least inspiring choice in the history of devolution”.