Speakers at a three-hour Jeremy Corbyn rally in Edinburgh repeatedly undermined Scottish Labour by praising arch rivals the SNP less than two months before the Scottish election.

Wednesday evening's #JC4PM concert, which struggled to sell more than half the tickets for the stalls section of the four-tier Festival Theatre, saw acts such as comedians Mark Steel and Jeremy Hardy and singer Charlotte Church perform to a sparse crowd.

Scottish Labour figures had criticised the event over fears that it could distract from the Holyrood election campaign. Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale is understood to have bought some of the tickets but did not attend.

Other #JC4PM tour dates in England have reported healthier sales, but it seems the Scottish public may be more resistant to the idea of Corbyn as prime minister. Tickets for the concert initially cost a minimum of £20 but some students at Edinburgh University said they were being sold on Wednesday afternoon for as little as £5.

The Scottish party leadership's concerns that it could distract from their election message were confirmed in Hardy's opening monologue, in which he said he would probably vote for independence if he lived in Scotland but implored the crowd not to vote to leave the UK in the near future because "England would be fucked without you".