SCOTTISH Labour is stepping up party reforms by bringing forward plans to reorganise its network of local branches.

Sources said the plans to base constituency Labour parties (CLPs) on Holyrood rather than Westminster boundaries will be complete by the New Year.

It was proposed last year in a report into the party's crushing election defeat to the SNP.

Organisers have begun meeting CLP chairmen and women to help ease the transition but no deadline has been set before now.

The move comes a day after general secretary Colin Smyth announced he was stepping down as Labour's top official.

Leader Johann Lamont has sought to install her own lieutenants in key positions and implement the main recommendation of last year's review – to increase her authority by putting her in charge of the party headquarters and Scottish MPs as well as MSPs.