Jeremy Corbyn lambasts SNP as Labour launches fight back in Scotland

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has kickstarted his Scottish fight back with a blistering attack on the SNP.

In a speech in Glasgow, Mr Corbyn accused the Scottish Government of "simply passing on Tory austerity" as he tried to turn around his party's fortunes north of the border.

He slammed the ruling SNP government for making £327m worth of cuts, telling Labour activists: "Trying to talk left at Westminster when in opposition, whilst acting right in power at Holyrood, is not standing up for Scotland.

"It is not standing up for Scotland failing to tackle the scandalous level of health inequalities here in this great city of Glasgow and across Scotland. It is not standing up for Scotland overseeing a growing attainment gap between children from poorer and wealthier backgrounds.

"It is not standing up for Scotland refusing to use the powers of the Scottish Parliament to invest in all of these areas - and many more where we believe the SNP has failed.

"The SNP is not standing up for Scotland. It's standing up for the establishment."

:: Labour to call double by-election for same day

He argued only Labour would be able to challenge the Westminster-centric status quo.

Mr Corbyn said: "I know all about the British establishment, I've been on their case for 40 years.

"It's our policies that will fix the mess created by the Tories, and replicated by the SNP."

Mr Corbyn, was joined at the event in Glasgow by leader of the Scottish Labour Party Kezia Dugdale, who last summer called on him to resign and backed his leadership rival Owen Smith.

But he said the pair were in agreement over the "need to set up a People's Constitutional Convention, led by Labour, to see how best we can redistribute reclaimed powers and resources across all our nations and regions".

Mr Corbyn also said he was "determined to replace the unelected House of Lords with a democratic second chamber that ensures every part of the UK has an equal say in the UK parliament.

"I want to replace the House of Lords with a Senate for the Nations and Regions."

Labour are hoping to capitalise on the fading shine on the SNP government, which after nearly a decade in power is struggling to shrug off criticism over failings in education, health and transport.

Ms Dugdale said in a message to voters: "You do not need to choose between hard Tory Brexit and independence."

A spokesman for the SNP said: "Jeremy Corbyn's comments are exactly the sort of carping from the sidelines that Kezia Dugdale warned about when she said that Labour would be unelectable under his leadership.

"Labour in Scotland are stuck in a sorry place between completely irrelevant and totally desperate."

If Labour are ever to find their way back in to Downing Street, they would need to regain lost ground in Scotland.

The party were decimated in Scotland at the last General Election losing 40 seats and being left with just one MP.

They then came third - embarrassingly behind the Conservatives - at last year's elections to the Scottish Parliament.

The Labour's relevance in Scotland will be tested in a few months time at the upcoming council elections in May.