SCOTTISH Labour is “divided”, out of touch with working people and “intent on self-harming”, according to the new boss of one of the party’s biggest trade union backers.

Gary Smith, the Scotland Secretary of the GMB, also said party leader Kezia Dugdale was “not able” to say what the party’s mission is now.

And he described Labour’s consultation on whether there should be an independent Scottish party as an “absolute farce” and said his union would not co-operate with it.

The GMB has around 600,000 members across the UK and has ploughed in over £24million to Labour coffers since 2001 as an affiliate, including direct donations to the Scottish party.

However, the union represents workers in the defence sector and it is incensed by Scottish Labour’s anti-Trident position.

Dugdale led Labour into third place behind the Tories and lost over 30% of the votes compared to the 2011 election, which itself was a disaster.

In an interview with the Sunday Herald, Smith, was scathing about the state of the party.

This newspaper recently revealed Dugdale had launched a three-week consultation on the party’s internal structures, including the option of an independent party.

Smith said: “I think we are very concerned that Scottish Labour has apparently launched a consultation about being an independent party, without any consultation with us as one of the main affiliates. I’m not sure if that’s an issue of arrogance or competence on the part of the party...The party needs to understand it’s in third and that a lot of people in Scotland are not listening to them anymore.”

He dismissed the consultation as an “absolute farce” and said there “will be a question about our relationship with Scottish Labour going forward”.

He explained: “We are going to have to have a conversation with our membership about what political relations we are going to have going forward, because we are not going to deal with a party which is arrogant, doesn’t consult with us and is completely out of touch with the concerns of many of our members.”

Asked how the GMB would respond to the consultation, he said: “We are not going to.”

However, a Labour source said the consultation process had been agreed in March by a sub-group that included the trade unions.

Picture: Dugdale is under pressure from her own side

Smith, a Scot who has held a raft of senior GMB positions south of the border, also flagged up the pitfalls of the independence option: “They [Scottish Labour] don’t have a lot in the way of membership, they don’t have a lot in the way of policies, and they don’t have a lot in the way of income.”

He criticised the “whole political elite” in Scotland for not understanding the concerns of working class people, but his sharpest criticism was reserved for Labour.

On whether he was surprised the party came third in May, he said: “No, I wasn’t...I always thought there was a risk that Labour would finish third. It’s a party that’s divided, it’s a party that seems intent on self-harming, it’s a party that lacks discipline and it’s a party fundamentally that doesn’t know what it stands for.”

His assessment of Dugdale is mixed. He praised her, but there was a sting in the tail: “I think she is a very smart, sincere and decent woman...and the problems of the party run far deeper than Kezia Dugdale. But the fundamental challenge for her is: what is the mission of Scottish Labour? She is not able to tell me that, and the party is not able to tell me that with any conviction.”

He also queried Labour’s decision to put education at the centre of its campaign: “Education is an important issue, but fundamentally Scottish society is scarred by huge inequality. One of the key ways you address that inequality is by having an economy that creates quality jobs. For working class people, that’s proper apprenticeships and manufacturing-type jobs.

“What is Scottish Labour, or indeed the whole Scottish political elite, saying or doing about that? Education, sure, but…as the party of labour, we need to be talking about jobs and industry.”

On Dugdale’s decision to include an anti-Trident position in the manifesto, he said: “It was a very big mistake and it alienated a lot of ‘small c’ conservative working class voters.”

A Labour spokesperson said: "Scottish Labour is focussed on the future and rebuilding our party. When Kezia Dugdale was elected she committed to renew the party and ensure all decisions about the Scottish Labour Party would be taken in Scotland by her, her team and the wider membership."

Scottish Conservative chief whip John Lamont said: "Things must be bad for Labour if they can't even count on the unions for support now. After their disastrous election, from which they intend to learn no lessons, things look like they'll get worse before they get better."