Labour's deputy leader Alex Rowley has been tasked with leading the party's campaign in this year's Holyrood elections.

With three months to go until the election the SNP is on course for a second majority government, while Scottish Labour is facing the prospect of battling with the Conservatives for second place.

Mr Rowley, who was election agent for former prime minister Gordon Brown, said he is "realistic about the polls".

But he stressed the importance of policy in the campaign, saying: "People have to think that Labour is standing up for Scotland, that Labour has a vision for the future of Scotland.

"For me policy, in particular vision, is more important than personality."

Mr Rowley, the MSP for Cowdenbeath, in Fife, will be responsible for the day to day running of the party's campaign in Scotland.

He said he was "delighted" to take on the role, adding: "We are in no doubt about the scale of the challenge we face, but Scottish Labour heads into the election in May full of confidence in our vision for Scotland. It's a vision based on three words - real change now.

"People are sick of austerity. Faced with the choice between cuts to schools and local services or using the powers of the Scottish Parliament, Labour will use the powers to stop these cuts by setting the Scottish rate of income tax one penny higher than George Osborne."

He described last year's general election, where Labour lost all but one of its seats in Scotland to Nicola Sturgeon's SNP, as a landmark for the party, stating: "Hundreds of thousands of people who had voted Labour previously, probably all their lives, moved away from Labour.

"It's about us rebuilding the trust with communities right across Scotland and that's what we want to be able to do. We will fight for every vote, we will go after every vote, but we need to be able to set out a clear direction for the future of Scotland.

"If we're demonstrating that Labour actually is the only party putting forward an alternative to austerity, an alternative view to how we move Scotland forward, then at least we have got that debate moving."

Labour has already said it would set income tax in Scotland 1p higher than the rest of the UK in a bid to raise almost £500 million for education and local services.

Mr Rowley, a former council leader, told Press Association Scotland: "The most important thing for Labour is that we have a clear direction and vision, a clear vision of what kind of Scotland we want to have.

"Personalities are important, but without the vision, without the direction, that's all they are, and I don't believe in personality politics.

"I don't believe that Labour lost all its seats bar one last year because of personalities. There were some really good Labour MPs, there were some not so good, but at the end of the day it didn't come down to personality, personality didn't save any of those seats.

"What you've got to have is clear direction, clear vision for the future, and trust with the voter."

He continued: "As we've seen policies develop over the last months and weeks under Kezia Dugdale's leadership, we're starting to see there is a real choice here, there's a choice between Labour and the SNP.

"From that point of view that can only be good because we're now starting to have a more open honest discussion and debate in Scotland about what the choices for the future are.

"The announcement this week of the penny on tax, I think, will be that defining moment where we start to have a more open and honest discussion about the future of Scotland."

Mr Rowley said local services are "creaking at the seams" but insisted Labour had the "honesty to say if you want to have a strong future you've got to invest in that future".

He added: "There's a bit to go and we'll have the opportunity to set out why we think it is important to invest in Scotland's future and why Labour is the only party changing Scotland."

He also said he hoped Mr Brown would join him on the campaign trail ahead of the May 5 vote.

"Gordon is Labour to his fingertips and always will be," said Mr Rowley.

"I certainly hope Gordon will be joining me on the campaign trail, but I hope everybody that supports Labour, that supports our vision for the future of Scotland, will be out there saying 'this is our chance'."