FORMER Glasgow Labour council leader Steven Purcell wants an independence referendum to be held next year and vowed he would play a more active role in the Yes campaign than he did in 2014.

Purcell said a “hating Johnny foreigner” view over Brexit and the “I, Daniel Blake” style treatment of the poor as highlighted in the acclaimed Ken Loach film was horrifying Scots and made a vote for independence more likely than in 2014.

The intervention will be seen as a political comeback by Purcell, who was once tipped as a future Scottish Labour leader before sensationally quitting as council leader in 2010 after admitting to problems with alcohol.

He claimed Scottish Labour, had "got itself into a complete set of shambles over the question of independence" by chasing Unionist votes rather than seeking to win back those who deserted it for the SNP.

"But Labour has found itself entirely on the wrong wrong side of the debate," he said, "with former Labour voters now largely the ones who are supporting independence. The question is do you continue to chase the hard Unionist vote or do you chase the votes that left you?"

However, former Labour MSP Graeme Pearson, who now leads the pro-UK campaign group Scotland In Union, challenged Purcell's claims that independence would deliver greater social justice.

"Given that we've had 10 years of a nationalist agenda in Scotland that growing equality is not evident," he said.