Following the SNP Government's announcement of a referendum on Scottish independence, she was a key figure in the Better Together campaign; a cross-party movement that sought to keep Scotland part of the United Kingdom.

In parliamentary debates, she was perceived by commentators such as The Scotsman's Andrew Whitaker as being an effective opponent to First Minister Alex Salmond, but others, including Richard Seymour of The Guardian, criticised her for clumsiness during television interviews.

[25][26] In 2000 she became the first Labour MSP to rebel against the Labour-led administration when she threatened to lead backbenchers in voting against a planned Scottish Executive attempt to block the Abolition of Poindings and Warrant Sales Bill, which had been introduced by Sheridan.

Steel felt her supplementary question about youth crime was too long, but the incident led to a heated parliamentary debate, and accusations from Lamont's colleague, Labour's Helen Eadie that the Presiding Officer was not treating male and female MSPs equally, an allegation he rejected.

[32] In that post she was responsible for the launch of a radio and television advertising campaign aimed at tackling domestic abuse that aired over Christmas 2005,[33] and she expressed concerns over the level of discrimination faced by travellers and gypsies after the issue was highlighted in a 2005 Scottish Parliament report.

[10] McConnell appointed her as Labour's spokesperson for Communities and Sport in his post-election frontbench team,[36] a role she retained in the shadow cabinet formed by his successor, Wendy Alexander, in September 2007.

[41] In February 2011, she criticised Scottish Conservative MSP and Justice Committee Convener, Bill Aitken after the Sunday Herald quoted him making a controversial statement about a rape victim,[42] and later welcomed his subsequent resignation.

[50] She told delegates that Labour needed to reengage with the electorate if it wanted to govern again: "We must listen and learn, show humility and seek again to talk for and to people's ambitions and concerns.

"[50] Lamont's opponents in the leadership race were the MP Tom Harris, and her fellow MSP Ken Macintosh, both of whom had also expressed a need for Labour to change if it was to win the next election.

"[59] Lamont gave her first post-election interview to The Politics Show Scotland on 18 December 2011, speaking of the "huge challenge" of rebuilding public trust in Scottish Labour after its election defeat of the previous May, and a general decline in support over the preceding decade.

[60] Attending her first session of First Minister's Questions as Labour leader on 22 December 2011, she addressed the issue of child neglect following the conviction of a Glasgow woman for the murder of her son and asking what lessons could be learned from the case.

[61] In January 2012, as the SNP Government prepared for a referendum on Scottish independence, she spoke out in defence of Scotland's position in the United Kingdom after First Minister Salmond claimed that the country was not an equal partner in the union.

[76] Lamont launched Labour's 2012 local election campaign in Edinburgh on 17 April 2012, setting out policies for creating employment and training opportunities as well as improvements to education and childcare.

[85] Lamont was a prominent figure in the Better Together Campaign, the cross-party political movement founded to keep Scotland as part of the United Kingdom following the SNP's announcement of a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014.

[94] Lamont told Scottish Labour's 2012 annual conference she wanted her party's campaign to be one of "collective leadership" against independence,[95] a strategy which she envisaged would become a cross-party movement arguing the case for keeping Scotland in the UK.

[98] The Better Together Campaign, fronted by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling, was launched at an event attended by Lamont and other senior Scottish political figures at Edinburgh's Napier University on 25 June 2012.

[111][115][116] The Commission also recommended devolving responsibility in some other fiscal areas, such as the payment of Housing Benefit and the possible levy of a mansion tax in Scotland, but decided against taking charge of other financial matters, including state pensions, National Insurance and tariffs on North Sea oil.

[117] Ben Thomson, chair of the cross-party Devo Plus think tank argued the plans were "just tinkering with the current system" and would allow the SNP to "say that the unionist parties aren't interested in real devolution".

[10][121] The approach was also questioned by Richard Seymour of The Guardian, who suggested it could damage Labour's electoral appeal: "Outside Scotland, this policy would merely be a gift to the Tories, by corroborating their arguments for welfare cuts.

[124] In January 2014, Lamont and Scottish Labour faced criticism after the party voted against an SNP motion that included the introduction of free school meals for pupils in their first three years of primary education, and a commitment to childcare for pre-school children.

[125][126] Recalling her experience of teaching underprivileged children, Lamont told the parliament that free school meals would not be her priority, and tabled an unsuccessful amendment calling for greater childcare provisions instead.

[128] In The Daily Telegraph, Cochrane wrote that the strategy had allowed the SNP to claim Labour opposed the principle of free school meals because they "fell for a bit of skulduggery that Ms Lamont and her business managers should have seen coming a mile off".

[129] It was later claimed that key evidence thought to have been retracted had not been withdrawn, prompting several Falkirk councillors to urge Miliband to publish details of the party's internal inquiry or to hold a fresh investigation.

McConnell expressed fears that Labour would experience increased difficulty in regaining the confidence of Scottish voters following the election of Sturgeon as SNP leader, and described the party as "a political machine that is angry about what has happened in Scotland in the recent past".

On 26 October, following a meeting of the party's executive committee, he outlined the details of a leadership election, which would be held using the three-tier electoral college, and conclude with the announcement of a new leader on 13 December.

[161] Although she has been criticised by SNP politicians for taking a "Blairite" stance on public services, The Guardian's Peter Hetherington has described Lamont as "rooted to older [Labour] party values, with a deep commitment to fairness".

[3][162] Her childhood experience was something she addressed in an emotional speech to delegates at the 2013 Scottish Labour Party Conference:[162] "I saw in my upbringing the beauty of our land and felt both the warmth of community and the harshness and brutality at times of trying to make a living here.

In September 2012, Richard Seymour of The Guardian described how she "fluffed her lines" during an interview with STV reporter Bernard Ponsonby following her announcement of Labour's public service policy review.

[177] Lamont's low public recognition indicated by the December 2013 TNS BMRB poll led Herald columnist Alison Rowat to label her "the invisible woman of the independence debate", and to suggest she needed to raise her profile.

[178] Impressionist Jonathan Watson satirised Lamont in the 2013 edition of BBC Scotland's annual Hogmanay comedy show Only an Excuse?, featuring a sketch in which she debates Scottish independence with Salmond.