Scottish Labour’s new leader said he has a “huge job” to do as he seeks to “reconnect” the party with voters.

But Michael Marra has vowed to “recreate” Scottish Labour “as a national party once again”.

Speaking the day after being voted into the job, Mr Marra accepted his party has a “big job to do though to reconnect with the whole of the country”.

The new Scottish Labour leader told BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show: “It is a huge job and it is a long-term job as well.

“I’m not going to come here and say that we are ‘one more push’, that’s absolutely not the case.

“I fundamentally believe we have to reconnect with the country in a really profound way.”

He added: “I think for too long people have known what we’re against, whether we be against the Tories, the SNP and certainly against Reform as well.

“But we have to make sure that people know more about what we are for, and those values of equality, solidarity, good public services, a decent life for working people… those are the absolutely critical values we bring to the table.”

Mr Marra became Scottish Labour’s 11th leader of the devolution era after defeating fellow MSP Joe Fagan in a leadership contest which culminated on Saturday.

The North East Scotland MSP won the contest – sparked by predecessor Anas Sarwar’s move to the House of Lords to join Andy Burnham’s Government – comfortably, with 63% of the votes cast.

But just less than half (49.4%) of Scottish Labour members actually voted in the election.

And Mr Marra, who had phone calls with both Prime Minister Mr Burnham and the Scottish First Minister after his victory on Saturday – said Labour needs to “recreate ourselves as a national party once again”.

He said: “I believe Scottish Labour needs to open the doors to the whole country, take our values with us, but have a real conversation in all parts of the country, to recreate ourselves as a national party once again.”

With Labour having seen its tally of MSPs decline at every successive Holyrood election – from 56 in the first ballot in 1999 to 17 in the May election – he said the party must be “absolutely clear” about the significance of that.

He accepted the unpopularity of former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer “clearly was an issue on the doors” with voters in May – but insisted the problem was “longer term” than that.

As a result he said he was “talking about refounding the party right across the country, becoming a national party again, making sure we can win support everywhere”.

Mr Marra continued: “We can’t pretend it’s a different era when we did have success, we have to genuinely have that process of reconnection.”

He also said he wanted to see a “new series of devolution deals for Scotland” where the UK Government would contribute funding while the Scottish Government would transfer powers to local areas to help grow the economy.

Arguing that this “is how we get growth back”, Mr Marra said: “Let’s get beyond this point about getting into conflict all the time, seeking grievance.

“Let’s see where we can get on the same page. Money from one side, policy from another, practical politics that delivers for people in Scotland.”