MARGARET Curran has given her backing to Jim Murphy in the Scottish Labour leadership contest after a phone poll suggested the election is balanced on a knife edge.

MARGARET Curran has given her backing to Jim Murphy in the Scottish Labour leadership contest after a phone poll suggested the election is balanced on a knife edge.

In a surprise move, the Shadow Scottish Secretary urged party members to vote for the East Renfrewshire MP before polls close tomorrow (Weds).

She had previously indicated she would not publicly back any of the three candidates vying to succeed Johann Lamont, as she will have to work closely with whoever emerges as leader.

But in an email to members, she emphasised the importance of the decision to Labour's chances in May's general election.

Her intervention comes after Mr Murphy's principal rival, Neil Findlay, revealed phone poll findings suggesting the two men are neck and neck.

In her message to members, Ms Curran wrote: "I wasn't planning to publicly back a candidate in the Scottish Labour party leadership election.

"But as this campaign has progressed it's become increasingly clear how important this decision is for the future of the Scottish Labour Party."

She singled out Mr Murphy's pledges to promote women in his frontbench team, focus on education reforms, impose a 50p top rate of income tax on high earners and extend the living wage as the reasons for her support.

Recalling her victory in Glasgow East two years after she suffered a shattering by-election defeat to the SNP in the same constituency, she also claimed Mr Murphy could return Labour to winning ways.

She said: "We won Glasgow East with drive, determination and by reaching out to the people who thought that Labour had left them behind.

"They're the same qualities we need to put Scottish Labour back in the lead, and that's what I've seen from Jim during this campaign.

"We need someone with ideas for how we can take Scotland forward and that's exactly what he's been talking about for the past five weeks."

Ms Curran spoke out after former First Minister Jack McConnell said the new leader should not take the party sharply to the left.

Though he stopped short of publicly backing any of the candidates, his words were interpreted as supportive of Mr Murphy.

At the weekend, the campaign team behind Mr Findlay - a left-winger who has won a string of endorsements from trades unions - predicted a dead heat.

They said support for Mr Murphy and Mr Findlay was tied on 45 per cent, with Sarah Boyack, the third candidate, trailing a long way behind.

Under the electoral college system used to choose the new leader, a third of the vote is allocated to party members, a third to affiliated trade union members and the final third to MPs, MSPs and MEPs.

Welcoming Ms Curran's support, Mr Murphy said: "There's a lot of work to do and I'm confident that we can win the UK election in May and the Scottish election in 2016."

Meanwhile Scottish Labour deputy leadership challenger Kezia Dugdale has called for greater devolution of powers to councils and communities.

The Lothians MSP accused the SNP of a "relentless process of centralisation" which has caused a loss of local accountability for policing, transport and economic development.

The results will be announced on Saturday.