‘I may be the Gray man, but I can still win Scots election’

Labour leader Iain Gray has admitted he is not as recognisable to the Scottish public as First Minister Alex Salmond, but insisted he can still beat his rival in May’s Holyrood elections.

Labour and the SNP are “neck and neck” going into the election, according to Mr Gray, who said he was not surprised by a recent poll which indicated that many Scots do not know who the opposition chief is.

Mr Gray also launched an attack on the SNP’s record on crime, as he sought to wrest back the initiative for Labour, claiming plans to scrap short-term prison sentences were “putting more women in danger”.

The decision of former leader Wendy Alexander to quit politics last Thursday marked a bad week for Labour, after an Ipsos MORI poll indicated the Nationalists were ahead in the race for Holyrood in May.

A Scotsman survey last week showed the Labour leader was largely unrecognised.

Mr Gray said: “We’re in a fight, and I always knew that.

“Alex Salmond has been First Minister for four years, he has been in elected politics for over 20 years and he has been the face of the SNP for two decades, so it’s not surprising.

“I have been Labour leader for two years – two to three years – and in that time the progress we’ve made is pretty significant.

“In real elections when I have gone head to head with Alex Salmond – in Glenrothes, in Glasgow North East and in last year’s general election – on every occasion I have won, and I have won well.

“We have a strategy for this election, and we will work to that,” he went on.

“We believe this is a doorstep election, in which directly talking to the electorate about what we will do to support hard-working families in Scotland is what is going to swing and decide this election.”

Mr Gray also rejected claims that Ms Alexander stood down because she was not guaranteed a ministerial post if Labour forms the next government.

“I think it does seem to be particularly difficult for women with young families to fill high-profile roles in Scottish politics,” he said. “The Scottish Parliament has been designed to try and help with that, but perhaps it hasn’t helped enough.”

In an outspoken attack on the SNP’s plans to scrap short-term prison sentences, Mr Gray claimed the move was “putting more women in danger”.

He said half of men who went to jail for domestic abuse would no longer do so, because their sentences fell below the three-month period.

Mr Gray said a Labour government would back plans for domestic abuse courts to be created across Scotland.

He said: “The SNP’s decision to indiscriminately scrap custodial sentences of three months or less means over half of the domestic abusers who would have normally went to jail will now escape jail. Not only does that mean there is a much lesser deterrent for the perpetrators, but, crucially, there is no respite for their victims.”

A spokesperson for justice secretary Kenny MacAskill said: “We should stand united as a parliament and as a society against the despicable crime that is domestic abuse – it is not a matter for scaremongering politics.”