Michael Marra becomes Scottish Labour leader
He defeated Joe Fagan to take the party's top role after Anas Sarwar's resignation.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Michael Marra MSP
Photograph: Daily Record (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Michael Marra is the new leader of Scottish Labour.
- He won the leadership contest against Joe Fagan.
- The position became vacant when Anas Sarwar resigned to take a peerage and a Westminster role.
- Scottish Labour holds 17 seats in the Holyrood parliament.
Michael Marra has been named the new leader of Scottish Labour. He defeated Joe Fagan in the contest to succeed Anas Sarwar, who resigned from the role to take up a peerage and a ministerial position in Westminster. Scottish Labour currently has 17 seats in the Holyrood parliament.
Coverage comparison
What the coverage left out
None of the left-rated or centre-rated reports mentioned the specific number of seats Scottish Labour holds in the Holyrood parliament, which was stated as 17 in the Daily Record's full report.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
- The Daily Record, The Scotsman and The Herald Scotland all reported Michael Marra's appointment as Scottish Labour leader. The Daily Record, which published a full report, highlighted Marra's stated priorities including reconnecting the party with Scotland, recovering Labour's purpose, and delivering change. It quoted Marra saying he wanted Scottish Labour to become a "genuinely national party" and that his job was to "reconnect Labour’s values to where Scotland is today". The report also noted Marra's background working for anti-poverty charity Oxfam and his commitment to tackling child poverty, stating the Scottish Parliament's target to reduce child poverty was on course to be missed. The Herald Scotland's digest mentioned Marra vowing to build a "completely different Scottish Labour". The Scotsman's digest stated Marra replaced Anas Sarwar as leader.
Centre
- Sky News UK's digest reported that Michael Marra has been named the new leader of Scottish Labour.
Right
We hold no leaning breakdown for this story, so there is nothing to report about the right.
Questions about this coverage
- Is the coverage of Michael Marra becomes Scottish Labour leader biased?
- Michael Marra becomes Scottish Labour leader is one event reported by several outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Who is the new leader of Scottish Labour?
- Michael Marra has been named the new leader of Scottish Labour. He defeated Joe Fagan in the leadership contest to take over from Anas Sarwar.
- Why did Anas Sarwar resign as leader?
- Anas Sarwar resigned as leader of Scottish Labour to take up a peerage and a ministerial role in Westminster. Michael Marra succeeded him.
- How many seats does Scottish Labour have?
- Scottish Labour holds 17 seats in the Holyrood parliament. This figure was reported by the Daily Record.
Read it at the source
4 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
3- Michael Marra named new leader of Scottish Labour leader (opens The Scotsman in a new tab)
The Scotsman — is The Scotsman biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Michael Marra named Scottish Labour leader after seeing off Joe Fagan (opens Daily Record in a new tab)
Daily Record — is Daily Record biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Michael Marra sees off Joe Fagan to become Scottish Labour's 11th leader (opens The Herald Scotland in a new tab)
The Herald Scotland — is The Herald Scotland biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
1Right
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
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