THE Yes campaign must win over Labour voters if it is to stand a chance of victory in September's independence referendum, a leading Nationalist has warned.

Jim Sillars, the former deputy leader of the SNP, said Labour supporters "will determine the outcome," as he prepared to unveil a new socialist programme for an independent Scotland.

Mr Sillars, whose book In Place of Fear II is published today, writes in The Herald: "The core SNP vote, plus SSP, Greens and a small number of Tories and LibDems, will not be enough. Labour people, 900,000 of them, will tip the balance, and my hope is that my book will give them reasons to vote Yes."

Mr Sillars said his book aimed to create "certainty" over the benefits independence would bring.

The former MP, who has criticised a number of key Scottish Government policies said independence did not mean a vote for the SNP.

He added: "It means we take control of our future.

"If we don't want the SNP to be part of that future, independence gives us the power to remove them at the first election in 2016."