Scottish Labour leadership candidate Ken Mackintosh has vowed to ensure that the party becomes autonomous from its UK counterpart.
The Eastwood MSP, who is standing for the top job for the second time in five years, said he would relocate the movement’s headquarters from Glasgow to Edinburgh to be closer to the Scottish Parliament.
Mr Mackintosh, a father of six, insisted he was not a career politician, despite being first elected in 1999, because he put his constituents first and had a life outside politics.
The 53-year-old said: “My whole style of leadership will be different, less aggressive and adversarial, more collaborative and co-operative.
“I want us to stop defining ourselves by our opposition to the SNP, to the Tories or for that matter to the referendum and talk positively about Scotland’s future, about the good society we want to build.”
Mr Mackintosh, who is competing against Lothians MSP Kezia Dugdale to replace Jim Murphy as party leader, launched his campaign in East Kilbride yesterday.
He said Labour in Scotland must become more accountable and responsive to the needs of the people if it was to become electable again.
Mr Mackintosh said the party must better represent communities the length and breadth of the country and planned to open seven regional offices.
He added that he wanted to replace the role of Scottish Labour general secretary with a chief executive and give the elected party chairman a seat in the cabinet.
Mr Mackintosh said he wanted to give non-party members, including business people, charities, academics, faith groups a formal role in policy discussions.
He added that he also wanted to introduce a system of American-style primaries for the election of future party leaders.
The Inverness-born MSP, who attended primary school at Portree and Oban, said: “I want to make it quite clear – I see myself as the change candidate.
“I want to change the whole way the Labour Party operates and move away from the machine politics of the past, to give the party back to its members and to the people we want to represent.
“I want us to be an autonomous party here in Scotland but one which makes a positive choice to remain part of the UK Labour Party.”