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Marra to claim Holyrood 'hoarding power' in conference speech
Michael Marra will give his first conference speech as Scottish Labour leader in Liverpool
Michael Marra is set to call for the Scottish government to decentralise power from Holyrood in his first conference speech as Scottish Labour leader.
Marra will claim the Scottish Parliament has "hoarded money and control" in Edinburgh and demand skills policy is devolved to Scotland's regions.
The MSP for North East Scotland, who defeated Joe Fagan in a vote to replace Anas Sarwar just over a week ago, will address the first day of the UK Labour conference in Liverpool.
He is expected to call on the Scottish government to put "power and money" in the hands of local people to grow regional economies.
Marra will say: "Had our regions grown at the same pace as Manchester in the last decade, the Scottish economy would be £30bn larger.
"Too much power is centralised in Scotland. The Scottish Parliament has hoarded money and control at the expense of Scotland's communities."
Michael Marra announced as new Scottish Labour leader
Marra took over as leader of Scottish Labour following Sarwar's decision to stand down in order to take up a role in the House of Lords as part of Prime Minister Andy Burnham's government.
That decision came a few months after the party's worst ever Holyrood election result in May.