Michael Marra has set a very clear policy direction for his party. So why now?
Andy Burnham took the first step by taking his tin opener to this can of political worms at the Labour Party conference as he seeks closer ties with the EU.
There’s a crunch summit in Brussels a week on Friday.
But Marra is going further than the prime minister.
He points out rejoining the EU is not the current policy of the UK government and that this is a distinct, Scottish Labour position.
Marra is a new leader and he needs to make the news with a stand-out position, so that also helps to answer the “why now” question.
Scottish Labour believe their leader has two clear roles; challenge the Scottish government and influence the UK government.
Marra thinks he can be influential and it’s a change even from the position he held when he took over as leader.
There may be a fair amount of Scottish public support for this and brings Labour alongside the SNP as they both burnish their pro-EU credentials.
Labour and the SNP will continue their traditional battle and now Marra has a new fight on his hands to fully convince his party of his stance as he demands “rejoin” be included in their next general election manifesto.
