Kezia Dugdale: Labour must now come together

Firstly, congratulations to Jeremy Corbyn on his victory in the UK Labour leadership election. After a difficult summer for the Labour party he has been handed a fresh mandate from party members.

Labour has spent months fighting itself; it’s now time for us to start fighting the Tories. We can only do that if all wings of the party come together.

The Labour Party is not going to split—the only people that will help is the Tories. The Labour family has had a tough discussion, but we are still a family. Jeremy has a job on his hands to bring the party back together but it is absolutely crucial that he does.

The Parliamentary Labour Party has to want to bring about that unity as well. If they don’t it won’t be Labour politicians who lose out, it will be the people Labour was founded to stand up for.

The stakes over the next few years are incredibly high. Working class people across the UK need the Labour Party to be doing what it was founded to do today more than ever.

The Tories are dragging us towards the EU exit door with no clue how it will affect working people.

Meanwhile in Scotland, the Nationalists are preparing to drag Scots back to the constitutional arguments of the past, with independence set to push the bread and butter issues like health and education down the SNP’s priority list.

The way forward for the Labour party is to unite and deliver a positive vision for the future of our country. If we don’t it will be working people who lose out. That’s why we have to come together, that’s why I will be working as closely as I can with Jeremy to deliver that.