Labour's new shadow chancellor has described Labour as the only anti-austerity party in Scotland as he hit out at the SNP.

John McDonnell accused Nicola Sturgeon's party of faking a left-wing stance while actually leaning to the right.

And he urged Scottish voters to "come home" to Labour.

The SNP are on course to win a landslide victory in next year's Holyrood elections.

Recent surveys have the party polling around 60 per cent of the vote, with Labour trailing far behind.

In his speech to Labour's annual conference in Brighton, Mr McDonnell said: "The SNP talk left, but they act right. They voted against the living wage, they voted against capping rent levels.

"Just last week in the Scottish parliament they voted against fair taxes in Scotland to spend on schools."

He urged those who want to oppose austerity "now is the time to come home to Labour".

"We are the only anti-austerity party in Scotland”.

The SNP have criticised Mr McDonnell for saying Labour would back the Conservative policy to erase the deficit by 2020.

An SNP spokesman said: "Given that John McDonnell has just confirmed he still supports George Osborne's fiscal charter, people across the UK will be hoping that his advisers will convince Labour of the folly of continuing with Tory austerity policies."