A FORMER Scottish Labour candidate has defected to the SNP over the constitution on the same day Kezia Dugdale tried to advance her plan for a federal UK.

Immigration lawyer Jamie Kerr, a former vice-chair of Labour in Renfrewshire South and a Holyrood candidate in Shetland in 2011, jumped ship yesterday complaining he couldn’t stay in a party “that no longer speaks for Scotland”.

His switch coincided with the Scottish Labour leader joining senior party figures in Cardiff to discuss home rule as an alternative to Tory Unionism and Scottish Nationalism.

Ms Dugdale said moving power out of Whitehall and devolving it across the UK wasn’t “just a constitutional convenience, but an economic necessity”.

She was joined by former PM Gordon Brown, Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones, Labour Cabinet Office spokesman Jon Trickett and former Deputy PM John Prescott for a Labour event outlining plans to strengthen the UK by moving toward a more federal Union.

Mr Kerr, who came out as a Yes supporter in 2014, said Ms Dugdale’s leadership would be remembered as having “failed to stand up for Scottish interests when a hard-right Tory government is dragging Scotland from the EU and single market”.

He said: “Last year, while the UK voted to leave the EU, Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain. Instead of Labour reassessing their position on the constitution and focussing on protecting Scotland’s future in Europe, it veered down a path of self-destruction by hardening up an ultra-unionist position alien to the Labour movement.

“While Labour obsesses with opposing the SNP at every possible turn, they have failed to stand up to Tories intent on a hard-Brexit.

"It’s time to accept that the people of Scotland should get the choice to decide their own future.

"I know Kezia Dugdale well and have a great deal of respect for some of what she's tried to achieve, not least in trying to shake off the branch status of Scottish Labour. Unfortunately, her leadership will be remembered as one that was failed to stand up for Scottish interests when a hard-right Tory government is dragging Scotland from the EU and single market.

“I cannot be a member of a party that no longer speaks for Scotland."

A Scottish labour spokesman said: “We wish Mr Kerr well and thank him for his service to the party. Labour will never support independence, which would impose £15bn worth of extra spending cuts on our schools and hospitals. Only Labour represents what the majority of people in Scotland want - close ties to Europe from within the UK."