A LABOUR leadership contender has declared her plans to set up an "international commission" opposed to Scottish independence.

Lisa Nandy, who received 31 nominations for the position from MPs and MEPs, made the announcement as she spoke in Dagenham yesterday.

The Wigan MP spoke of the need to build a "red bridge" connecting towns and cities across England, Scotland and Wales.

She went on: "Now is the time to look outwards, paint with broad strokes and set up an international commission, led by and for Scottish people, that seeks to learn from the few examples where at times in modern history the cause of social justice has beaten divisive nationalism."

"Now is the time to look outwards, paint with broad strokes and set up an international commission, led by and for Scottish people, that seeks to learn from the few examples where at times in modern history the cause of social justice has beaten divisive nationalism." — Team Nandy (@TeamNandy) January 13, 2020

"I believe there is more we have in common as a nation than that which divides us. This is the country that lies beneath the surface and it must be heard."

She did not give any examples of times where "social justice has beaten divisive nationalism" or clarify what an international commission would involve.

The National has contacted the MP for further details on the plan.

National columnist Pat Kane hit out at Nandy's suggestion, tweeting: "What is she doing, standing in Dagenham, announcing this?? It’s utterly deaf to the open character of modern Scotland nationalism, and utterly blind to the British nationalism of UKLab. Complete duffers, the lot of them #LabourLeadership"

And Sunday National contributor and academic Gerry Hassan said the plan was "drivel".

He wrote: "Labour leadership drivel at a time of UKanian, Scottish & Northern Irish constitutional crisis. And understand your own history: 1945, left patriotism & that Labour is a nationalist party."

Nandy joined Rebecca Long-Bailey and Jess Phillips in the list of Labour leadership candidates who have confirmed their stance on Scottish independence.

READ MORE: FM: Jess Phillips has Scots Labour voters 'running for the hills'

Long-Bailey has said she would not stand in the way of a second independence referendum, while Phillips has said Labour would be "100% committed to the Union" if she had the top job.