THE only Labour MP in Scotland has backed Yvette Cooper for the UK leadership as he compared his party's plight to the troubles faced by Hearts football club.

Ian Murray, who clung on to his seat in Edinburgh South in May when 40 of his colleagues were kicked out of office, gave his first major speech as shadow Scottish Secretary at Morningside Parish Church, where John Smith's funeral was held.

In a bid to inspire activists, he said that following the death of the then-Labour leader and Lanarkshire MP in 1994 the party had been at a low ebb but that it had recovered to win three consecutive general elections. He said: "Our lowest points can be the catalyst for our greatest victories."

Mr Murray, who was closely involved with the successful campaign to save Hearts from extinction and move the club towards fan ownership, said the experience had taught him about how to "turn around a historic institution that shaped the lives of thousands over generations, but lost its way", adding "doesn't that sound familiar?"

He added: "We can draw a real lesson from what happened at Hearts football club. A living, breathing example of how that community based solution can work. And it also shows how you can take an organisation that has lost its way and set it on the right path again.

"They have been an integral part of people's lives for generations. They have always been innovative and driven change both within football and the wider area - but they lost their way - within days of disappearing forever.

"The club was saved and revived not by a top down solution, but by a large grassroots movement that pulled together. Thousands of supporters deciding the way forward was for them to take charge of the situation. It saved the club, but more importantly, changed the culture."

He said that Hearts, currently preparing for a return to the top flight in Scottish football, was being led by a fresh new leadership team, paid the Living Wage and was advertising Save the Children on their shirts rather than previous sponsor Wonga.

Speaking about the UK leadership race, he said he had "no problem whatsoever" with bookies favourite and radical left winger Jeremy Corbyn, but revealed that he was backing his rival Ms Cooper in what he described as an "exciting" contest.

"At UK level I have been quite keen to ensure the debate carries on without me backing anyone, but I am backing Yvette Cooper for the next leader of the Labour Party," he said.

"The reason I am doing that is purely because I think Labour needs its first female prime minister.

"But I also think Yvette has a lot of understanding of the situation in Scotland, I think that she has the determination, she has the confidence."

The Edinburgh South MP added that Ms Cooper's policy platform was that of someone who would make a "strong leader" going forward.

"We have got four great candidates who are all having a really good debate about the future of the Labour Party and we should welcome that and embrace that," he said.

Ms Cooper's campaign said that it was "delighted" to have the support of Mr Murray, who had also warned that Labour could no longer turn to the "big beasts" of the party and that it was time for a new generation.

Mr Murray had already announced his support for Kezia Dugdale in the race for the leadership of the Scottish Labour Party. Speaking about Labour's prospects in next year's Holyrood election, he said: "We should always have the aspiration of being in government ... but I think it would be a significant achievement if we were applauded off the park, and I think that's something we should aspire to.

"We will all go into the election with individual fights in individual constituencies to make sure that we can take that positive policy platform for the future to the Scottish people, to highlight the fact that we we have a government in Scotland that will have been in power for nine years, and has really taken Scotland backwards in those nine years in terms of public services and things that they are responsible for."