The Scottish people want the Labour Party back, one of the contenders to be its leader has said.

Neil Findlay said the party must revive its lost connection with people if it is to win power at Holyrood from the SNP.

Mr Findlay, a Lothians MSP, is in a three-way contest with Sarah Boyack MSP and Jim Murphy MP for the top job.

He said social justice, better housing, employment rights and the NHS were what people were concerned about and where the party has to focus its policies.

His analysis of Labour's current predicament is simple.

He said: "The connection with people is what we have lost and we need to get that back to be seen as the party that represents working people. They want the Labour Party back."

Mr Findlay, a former teacher, housing officer and bricklayer said that over the years, decisions taken by Labour have eroded the party's support especially in traditionally working class areas and working people.

He said: "New Labour did some good things - the minimum wage, building schools and hospitals - but the coalition of voters they built up was systematically eroded by certain decisions.

"A large number joined that coalition because they believed Labour wouldn't take us to war, then we ended up in the mess with Iraq. Public sector workers would vote Labour because Labour wouldn't privatise services and they privatised some services.

"So we started to erode that big coalition of voters who supported us with a succession of policy choices and that's why our vote has gone away."

If he wins and should he become First Minister in 2016, Mr Findlay said he would not scrap the SNP policies of universal benefits, but said how they are funded and delivered has to change.

He said that there was a choice to make if people wanted benefits universally provided - as he did - saying that if they were not universal, a bureaucracy would have to be created to choose who should and who should not receive the benefits, and that in itself added to the cost.

He said: "We have a choice to make. If we want these things universally provided and I think they should be, because if you don't you have to create a bureaucracy that denies somebody something to give somebody else something, and that in itself costs.

"We have the system that allows you to provide universal services and then take back. It is called the tax system and we should use it.

I believe in the principle of universalism. Johann Lamont was right to raise the issue on how we pay for them, but it became a noise in the referendum that there was as no room for that debate."

He has changed his mind on some policies and now believes employment law should be devolved to allow the minimum wage to be set at the living wage level.

He said: "There's a case for that now. I've listened to what people have said. That's not based on any race to the bottom, it should be a race to the top and we should lead the rest of the UK on that."

If the Smith Commission doesn't recommend it, he wants other methods used to ensure businesses comply.

He said through procurement, government grants and in return for the small business bonus, the government can have greater leverage over firms to set wages higher.

Mr Findlay is in parliamentary terms the least experienced of the three contenders, but he sees that as an asset.

He said: "I'm not a career politician, I've not been involved in machine politics, that's not where I come from.

"My background is leaving school at 16, serving an apprenticeship, working in construction industry, going back to night school and ending up a teacher.

"That range of life experience is invaluable and has informed my politics and any policy decisions I will make."

stewart.paterson@eveningtimes.co.uk