THE new anti-austerity alliance dubbed the 'Scottish Syriza' has announced plans for its inaugural conference as it steps up preparations for the 2016 Holyrood election.

Based around the Scottish Socialist party and the grassroots Scottish Left Project, the group is expecting hundreds of activists to gather at the Glasgow Marriott on August 29.

The event will see the unveiling of the new name under which candidates will stand next May, and the agreement of a policy platform.

Possible names include United Left, Left Alternative and Scottish Left.

Buoyed by the surge in interest in radical politics during the referendum, the coalition will target the Holyrood list system, where MSPs can be elected with just 5.2 per cent of the vote.

Although some Scottish Socialist party (SSP) members oppose the idea, the SSP will not field candidates in its own name, but only as part of the new coalition, in order to maximise the chances of socialist MSPs being elected.

The umbrella model is based on Syriza in Greece, which was formed in 2004 as a coalition of 13 radical groups, including Maoists, Trotskyists, feminists and environmentalists.

Representatives from Syriza, Spain's Podemos movement and the radical Quebec Solidaire coalition in Canada are already working with the Scottish group.

The August conference aims to agree a "common programme of the left" and discuss how to emulate the electoral success of similar left movements elsewhere.

There will also be a series of meetings and assemblies across Scotland in coming months.

A Scottish Left Project spokesman said: "We want to ensure that in 2016 the radical political awakening that emerged during the referendum can be clearly and unequivocally expressed at the ballot box. This conference will herald the start of what we hope will be the largest campaign of the radical left in over a decade."