The Scottish Labour party is seen as “indistinguishable from the Conservatives” to voters north of the border, a leaked report commissioned by the party has found.

The previously unreleased Mattinson Report, commissioned by Labour and leaked to ITV News, says voters in England do not know what the party stands for.

In Scotland, however, the party is said to face different problems, some of which appear to stem from the decision to campaign shoulder-to-shoulder with the Tories during the 2014 independence referendum.

There, the party is seen as “an incompetent version of the Tories” by voters, who have switched from once-dominant Labour to the SNP en masse.

Under former leader Jim Murphy Scottish Labour lost all but one of its Westminster seats to the Scottish National Party.

The party is expected to do just as badly at the 2016 Scottish Parliament elections in May.

Labour's former interim leader Harriet Harman commissioned the new report into why Labour lost, titled “Emerging from the Darkness”, but it has yet to be officially released.

It was produced by Deborah Mattinson of the consultancy BritainThinks and based on a series of focus group interviews. It was produced entirely before Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader.

The 10 focus groups focused around Watford, Croydon, Nuneaton, Edinburgh and Glasgow – major marginal areas Labour failed to win either from the Conservatives or SNP.

Those included in the focus groups were Tory or SNP voters in 2015 but had backed Labour in 2005 and 2010.

The party was said by the switchers to be seen as in denial about the last Labour government’s “appalling” track record on the economy.

Scotland goes to the polls Show all 20 1 /20 Scotland goes to the polls Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Piper Ryan Randall leads a pro-Scottish independence rally in the suburbs of Edinburgh Getty Images Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides A "No" campaigner bursts into song as the BBC's Nick Robinson walks past Getty Images Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Chris McAleese holds a Saltire flag as he speaks with Gerrard Corrigan, left, and Robbie Devine outside Bannockburn Polling Station in Scotland AP Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides George Mackay and his daughter Anne Mackay run a polling station from their caravan at Coulags near Lochcarron PA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Voters arrive at the polling station in the village hall in the remote Highland area of Lochcarron, Scotland PA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides A No campaign supporter and Yes campaign supporter debate with each outside the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh, Scotland AP Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Martin Greenhouse arrived at Partick polling station wearing a Scottish football jersey with the number 14 - for 2014 - on the back. Martin said that he'd lived in Scotland for years and would be remaining north of border regardless of the outcome tonight. "Westminster does London very well. But not the rest of Britain. Devolution works, independence will work better and the regions of England will take note. That's why my wife and I are voting YES." James Cusick/The Independent Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides A supporter of the 'Yes' campaign stands outside a polling station Reuters Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides A yes supporter talks with a man and a woman with a Union flag in George Square, just a few hours before polling stations will close in the Scottish independence referendum Getty Images Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Chris McAleese at Bannockburn Polling Station, as voters go to the polls in the Scottish Referendum PA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Ryan Randall plays the bagpipes outside a polling station in Edinburgh, Scotland Reuters Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Fashion makes a point on voting day in the Scottish Independence referendum in Stirling EPA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Voters come to Notre Dame Primary School polling station as the people of Scotland take to the polls to decide their country's fate Getty Images Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Voters come to Notre Dame Primary School polling station as the people of Scotland take to the poles to decide their country's fate in a historic vote Getty Images Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond chats to school children at Strichen Primary School in Strichen PA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown with No campaigners outside the polling station at North Queensferry Community Centre as polls open PA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond gives the thumbs up after voting in the Scottish referendum in Aberdeenshire, Scotland EPA Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Residents take part in a "short walk to freedom" march in Edinburgh Reuters Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides Young voters leave a polling station in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh Reuters Scotland goes to the polls Scotland decides David Aguilar, left, and Aleix Sarri from Catalonia, who are visiting Scotland to support the Scottish independence referendum, gesture and hold up a placard supporting a Yes vote at passing motorists in Edinburgh, Scotland AP

Furthermore, voters are said to see Labour as “nice” but “in thrall to the undeserving” – an idea related to tabloid stories about so-called “benefit scroungers”.

“Voters from England and Scotland alike decry Labour’s ‘dismal’ track record on the economy,” the report reads. “It’s become an incontrovertible truth: wasting money and spending money on the wrong things, money focused on people on benefits rather than hard-working families, bailing out bank with taxpayers’ hard-earned money.

“It’s important to understand that the banking crisis is conflated with overspending. Voters describe the banking crisis as a ‘curtain pulled back to reveal terrible truth.’”

Another report into Labour’s defeat by Dame Margaret Beckett was described by Ms Mattinson as a “whitewash” in an interview with the BBC at the weekend.

That report said Labour lost because of the perceived weakness of Ed Miliband, fear of a pact with the SNP among English voters, and an association with causing the economic crash.

The party was also said to have failed to win over voters concerned about immigration and welfare issues.

The Beckett Report, released last week, said that perceptions of Labour were wrong and needed to be changed.