SCOTTISH Labour has distanced itself from the UK leadership by taking control of a root-and-branch review into the party's disastrous result in the Holyrood election.

The move sparked ugly recriminations, with one Scottish Labour MP branding the Scottish Executive Committee (SEC) “full of losers and tossers”.

In a snub to Ed Miliband, the SEC diluted London’s influence on the review by insisting on adding its own members, squeezing out all but one MP.

After a three-hour meeting in Glasgow, members said they expected Labour to be more distinctively Scottish after the review, which is also expected to expand the role of the leader who replaces Iain Gray in the autumn.

The review’s co-chair, MSP Sarah Boyack, appealed for all parts of the party to work together as “Team Labour”, despite the mudslinging.

As part of yesterday’s discussion, Gray apologised for Labour’s record defeat by the SNP.

Executive members then made “robust” criticism of the election campaign, organisation and press operation.

The party suffered a net loss of nine MSPs to drop to its lowest level at Holyrood since 1999, as well as losing a slew of former ministers in previously rock-solid parts of the central belt.

After the election, Gray said he would stand down as leader in the autumn.

It was then reported Miliband had asked three Scottish MPs – Jim Murphy, Ann McKechin and Anne McGuire – to run a review into the Scottish party’s failures and future direction.

It prompted a furious reaction from SEC members, who said the perception of London interference would hamstring the party’s recovery.

Miliband then appeared to backtrack as it was announced the review would be co-chaired by Murphy and Boyack.

The Scottish executive yesterday went further, ensuring other MPs were excluded by expanding the review to seven or eight members, with the extra personnel drawn from trade unions, affiliated societies and constituency parties.

One of those present said there was opposition to anything that smacked of a London takeover.

“It was clear today that everyone on the SEC felt that was not on. Any changes made to Scottish Labour have to be made by Scottish Labour and can’t be dreamt up somewhere else.”

Although the remit is not yet finalised, the review is expected to include the leader’s role. At present, Gray is only leader of the MSP group.

One senior Labour source said: “The party’s structures are byzantine. The technical leader in Scotland is Ed Miliband, but that’s not the real world. That needs to be sorted out.”

However, the review is not expected to examine the electoral college system which elects the leader, and which gives activists, parliamentarians and the trade unions each a third of the vote.

This was in spite of Lord Jack McConnell, the former Labour First Minister, calling yesterday for MPs to withdraw from the college, so the next leader was not “a prisoner of London”.

One Labour MP was scathing of the SEC, saying it was counter-productive to shut out MPs.

“The Scottish executive is full of losers and tossers basically. It’s just bizarre that there’s this hostility to the successful part of the Scottish party.”

Murphy, MP for East Renfrewshire, said: “Labour needs the humility to listen and the desire to change. There is no monopoly on good ideas so we will be reaching out to all sections of the party, and beyond, in a bold, open bid to come together and renew ourselves.

“We have big lessons to learn and we need to learn them fast.”

An SNP spokesman said: “Labour’s election campaign was a total shambles, and this civil war in their ranks shows they have learned nothing from the drubbing they took at the polls.”