Tom Gordon

Scottish Political Editor

SCOTTISH Labour should break away from the UK party and advocate sweeping new powers for Holyrood, one of the party's MSPs said yesterday.

Alex Rowley, a long-term ally of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, said Scottish Labour needed to become "an autonomous political party in its own right... free from the constraints of a UK party that understandably has other priorities" in order to renew itself.

He said Scottish Labour could be a "sister party" to UK Labour, but had to speak "with its own distinctive voice" and take its own decisions to connect with voters again.

The Cowdenbeath MSP, who only entered Holyrood in January 2014 through a by-election, also said Scottish Labour needed to look beyond the recent Smith Commission on more powers and embrace far greater devolution.

He said there should be a presumption that powers are best devolved to Holyrood unless it is in Scotland's clear interest for them to stay reserved to Westminster.

"On employment, on job creation, on wages, on all aspects of Scottish life, our starting point must be that unless there is a good reason for these powers not to be in Scotland, then that is where they should be - in our elected parliament, which is directly accountable to the people of our country," he said.

Scottish Labour should then explain how it would use those powers to achieve "a fairer and more equal Scotland built on the principles of social justice and equality", he added.

Rowley, a former general secretary of Scottish Labour and leader of Fife Council, laid out the proposals at a meeting of party members in Lochgelly yesterday morning.

Calling for a "transformation" of Labour across the UK, he said: "Labour in Scotland should build a new partnership and work with its sister party in the rest of the UK, where it is appropriate, and where it is in the interests of the people of Scotland to do so.

"It must have the autonomy and power to set the agenda in Scotland, building and setting out a policy platform and direction which embodies the values and aspirations of the people of Scotland. The clear message in the referendum, whether people voted Yes or No, was a demand for change."

Although he is not a candidate for the Scottish Labour leadership, Rowley said he wanted the issue of a separate party debated in the contest, as well as in the UK Labour leadership fight.

Andy Burnham, the favourite in the UK contest, recently said there is "a case" for a separate Scottish party, an idea backed by ex-Labour Home Secretary Charles Clarke.

However two other contenders, Liz Kendall and Yvette Cooper, have dismissed the plan.

Both the declared candidates for the Scottish leadership - Kezia Dugdale and Ken Macintosh - are opposed to a breakaway party.

Since the loss of 40 seats in last month's general election, Rowley has become increasingly vocal about Scottish Labour's need for a overhaul.

On May 12, he resigned from the Scottish shadow cabinet over Jim Murphy's attempt to cling on as leader, calling him an "unhelpful distraction from the real issues" facing the party.

Shortly afterwards, he published a leaflet on Scottish Labour's future, lamenting the party's "complete failure to recognise the mood for more powers" and advocating "radical change".

Yesterday's speech fleshed out what he meant by that last remark.

An SNP spokesman said: "We welcome Alex Rowley's support for these priority powers and hope he is able to persuade his Labour party colleagues in Westminster to back SNP amendments to increase the powers of the parliament."