Johann Lamont

“We won't enshrine the Tories' policies in Scotland. We won't run away from the Tories but then let them run our economy. We will face up to the Tories, and we will beat them.”

“The Scottish Labour Party and its renewal are more important than me.”

“I made a different decision to send my children to the local state school.”

“My biggest ambition is to bring together what happens in the real world with what politicians talk about.”

“What I will say will not always please you, but what I say will always be honest and true and how I genuinely see it.”

“Fair tax does not mean we don't want to encourage wealth creation. Wealth creation is how we raise the money to pay for world class schools and hospitals, for proper care of the weak, and dignity for the elderly.”

“Maybe I was just born to argue with men.”

“I spent ridiculous amounts of time as an activist and volunteer and was a teacher for 20 years.”

“I'm pretty proud of having completed a marathon myself, so I can only imagine the pride that real athletes feel when they are picked for the Olympic or the Paralympic Games.”

“I guess it feels to me that the political argument that has been lost in my lifetime is taxation. How do you engage in that debate when people don't trust politicians at all? It is almost impossible to start a conversation about taxation.”

“My Scottish Labour Party is a crusade - to fight poverty, inequality and injustice.”

“If I believe we need free personal care, we need an honest discussion about what it costs with a well-managed, well-trained workforce.”

“It's true across the U.K. that those who had least to do with causing the economic crisis are carrying the heaviest burden. That's unacceptable.”

“Scotland is my country, the nation that shaped me, that taught me my values. A nation whose achievements inspired and inspire me, a community whose failings drive me - drive my overwhelming desire to fight for social justice and equality.”

“If I have learned one thing in life, it is never to take any man's own estimate of himself. He could very well be mistaken.”

“The instinct of the Labour Party is if there's a problem, change the leader, then sit back, fold your arms and wait to be disappointed because they're sure it's not going to deliver.”

“When universities are forced to recruit more and more from outwith Scotland just to balance the books, it is inevitable that doors are being slammed shut on some of our brightest talent.”

“It is not possible to spend on one thing and then not have consequences on something else.”

“Those of us who were part of creating the Scottish parliament believe we must always test constitutional arrangements. The real test is where do the powers lie? Is it in the best interests of Scotland?”

“We shall seek debate without division or rancour.”