LABOUR is still the “least toxic” party in Scotland, according to an inquiry on its electoral failures.

Established by the party’s former policy chief Jon Cruddas MP, the probe concludes Labour is becoming an “exclusive” brand and losing its core support to Ukip.

However, focussing on Scotland, the newly published report – titled Labour’s Future, Why Labour Lost in 2015 and How it Can Win Again – concludes it is “still the least toxic party in Scotland” despite being thoroughly “lost”.

The claim is based on research into voters classed as liberal, metropolitan “pioneers”, aspirational and pragmatic “prospectors” and socially conservative, risk-averse “settlers”.

The inquiry, excerpts of which were previously released, found Scotland has more pioneers than England and Wales, with Scots voters “more likely to support ‘progressive’ positions than their small-c conservative English and Welsh counterparts”.

Almost 60 per cent of Scottish voters were most likely to vote for a party that redistributes wealth from rich to poor, compared with around 40 per cent in England and Wales.

Meanwhile, 55 per cent of Scots said the welfare system is “too generous to those who aren’t prepared to work hard for a living”, compared with 65 per cent south of the Border.

The study, which recommends the building of an “economically radical, fiscally prudent” Labour which stops “patronising” Ukip voters, said: “This pattern is consistent across the questions. Scottish voters are not the same as those in England and Wales.

“However the messages on the economy and many other issues that have traction in England and Wales also have traction in Scotland. On the question of public spending and the de?cit, 58 per cent of English and Welsh voters told us we must live within our means. Cutting the de?cit was their top priority. Fifty-one per cent of Scottish voters agreed.

“An anti-austerity message has more potency in Scotland than in England and Wales, but it still remains a minority position. The SNP’s adoption of ‘anti austerity’ messaging did not appear to be the main reason for its electoral success.”

The report adds that “surprisingly, Labour is still the least toxic party in Scotland” and says the party has “some hope” of recovery.

Almost 60 per cent of Scots voters surveyed agreed the Labour Party is “in a mess and needs a serious overhaul”, but only 31 per cent stated they would never vote Labour, compared with 36 per cent in England and Wales.

Toxicity scores were set at 34 per cent for the SNP, 52 per cent for the LibDems, 64 per cent for the Tories and 76 per cent for Ukip.

Almost three times as many people in Scotland blamed the Tories than Labour for public service spending cuts, while 64 per cent were “anxious about the future” under the Tories.

The SNP was found to have “succeeded in attaching patriotism to ‘progressive’ values”.

Meanwhile, the recent Holyrood election was said to have revealed an “interesting” new development in the party’s electoral fortunes.

Kezia Dugdale’s party were pushed into third place at the polls as Ruth Davidson’s Tories saw their vote rise in previous Labour strongholds like Eastwood, where one-time Labour leader hopeful Ken Macintosh lost to Conservative Jackson Carlaw.

Despite failing to secure an overall majority, the SNP polled almost 1,059,900 constituency votes, setting a new Holyrood record.

Meanwhile, Labour support fell in many areas with a corresponding rise in Tory votes, with some analysts attributing the result to changing demographics or disaffected LibDems backing Davidson.

However, Cruddas’s report takes a different view, stating: “The SNP’s early base of support was among socially conservative voters, but these results suggest that the SNP’s socially conservative voters are now going ‘home’ to the Conservative Party. Scottish politics appears to be polarising between progressive Scottishness and socially conservative unionism. Labour is lost in Scotland.”