SCOTTISH Labour's Neil Findlay has said the party should "positively support" a second Scottish referendum if a pro-independence majority is returned to Holyrood next year.

The Lothian MSP also said Scottish labour should work to secure a third option for "devo max" on any future ballot.

Findlay, who will be standing down at the 2021 election, has penned a new pamphlet calling on Labour to "take its head out the sand" as the party “cannot ignore or wish away constitutional realities a second longer”.

He wrote: “The issues of democracy, accountability, independence, devolution and regional and national identity are whether we like it or not, the issues that dominate the Scottish and increasingly, the UK political landscape.

“We need a positive, coherent, practical package of reforms that we can put to the people now – at present we are not even on the pitch, never mind in the game.

“On this issue Labour has been lazy, curmudgeonly and out of touch.”

He concludes: "We cannot deny the people of Scotland a second referendum where the majority is calling for it."

Following the decimation of Scottish Labour in the December general election, senior party figures have called for a re-evaluation of its opposition to a second referendum.

Findlay previously warned that Scottish labour faced "oblivion" if it failed to deliver a credible response to independence.

Speaking to the Herald on Sunday, the SNP’s Tommy Sheppard welcomed Findlay's statements, saying: "A growing number of senior Labour figures are clearly fed up of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the Tories, and recognise the need for a referendum on Scotland's future.

"Sensible people within Labour now realise that their current position is not only undemocratic and unsustainable, it's entirely counterproductive.

"While Labour may take a different position on independence, it's clear that blocking Scotland’s right to choose is completely untenable.”

A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “Richard Leonard has set out a progressive vision of a Home Rule Scotland in a federal UK including the transfer of powers from Westminster and Brussels to Holyrood, the abolition of the House of Lords and the creation of a Senate of Regions and Nations.

"This document is not an expression of Scottish Labour policy, but Scottish Labour always welcomes the views of our members and their contributions to the debate.”