Murphy: Labour will not win the general election without the backing of Scottish voters

Mr Murphy launched his party's Scottish General Election campaign at a time when Labour is trailing behind the SNP in support north of the border.

While some polls suggest that Labour could be left with just a handful of Scottish MPs after May 7, Mr Murphy insisted: "The polls are there to be confounded."

He spoke out as he addressed a campaign rally in Neilston, East Renfrewshire, part of the constituency he has held at Westminster since 1997.

When he was first elected there, it was the safest Tory seat in Scotland. Mr Murphy said that when he stood for election then "no-one gave us any chance whatsoever".

Prior to him winning the seat in 1997 - when Tony Blair's Labour routed the the Tories in Scotland - there had only ever been one Labour MP for the area, who was elected "way back in the 1920s".

But Mr Murphy said: "Because we had the ideas, the energy, the team work, we won that election back then and we've won ever since".

He told activists that "people across Britain need a Labour government" but added that it was support for Nicola Sturgeon's SNP that put this at risk.

The Scottish Labour leader said: "For years we heard the SNP argue that it was people in England who voted to give Scotland a Tory government.

"Now Labour is ahead in Wales, in all the cities of the north of England, and the polls suggest we are far ahead in London. It would be deeply ironic, would it not, if the only people in the UK that stood in the way of a Labour government were SNP MPs here in Scotland?"

He urged Scots to "vote for Labour and make Scotland a partner with London and Liverpool and Cardiff in kicking out the Tories".

Mr Murphy insisted there is a "world of difference" between his party's plans for change and the continued austerity that another Conservative government would bring.

He told the rally: "The change we need is too big, the choice between our parties is too large that we can not take a chance on change this time.

"The way to guarantee change, the way to guarantee that this failed Tory government is sent packing, is only with a vote for Labour."

He continued: "We can be part of a really progressive alliance, a coalition of Labour MPs elected in the cities of the north, in the industrial heartlands of the Midlands, in the valleys of Wales, in inner city London, and the cities, towns and villages all across Scotland.

"In Scotland we can't beat the Tories alone, but the rest of the UK can't do it without us.

"We have to vote for the only party that is big enough, the only party that is strong enough, to defeat the Tories and end their crushing austerity."

Ms Sturgeon had yesterday called on Labour to work with the SNP in "locking David Cameron out of Downing Street" even if Ed Miliband's party failed to return the largest number of MPs.

The Scottish First Minister said her challenge to Mr Miliband was: "If together our parties have the parliamentary numbers required after May 7, and regardless of which is the biggest party, will he and Labour join with us in locking David Cameron out of Downing Street?"

But Mr Murphy said today that the "political reality" was that the largest party in Westminster would be in the "strongest position" to form the government.

He stated: "The SNP counter that by arguing that nowhere in any rule book is it written that the biggest party has to form the government.

"It might not be written in the rule book, but it's written in the history books.

"Never in our history as a modern democracy in more than 20 elections has anyone other than the biggest party gone on to form the government after the election.

"It's a huge gamble to vote in this election in the expectation it will be any different."

Mr Murphy insisted that Scotland is "desperate for change" and added: "We know the last few years haven't been good enough, we know we can do much better than this."

He unveiled a new pledge card, setting out Labour's priorities north of the border, including using cash from a mansions tax on homes worth more than £2 million to fund 1,000 more nurses for the NHS.

Labour also says it would guarantee more powers for the Scottish Parliament, including giving it the final say on benefits north of the border, and would also guarantee a job and training for all young people.

The party is pledging 16 to 19-year-olds who do not go to college, university or an apprenticeship would get £1,600 to help them boost their careers while Labour plans to help workers by upping the minimum wage to £8 an hour and banning "exploitative" zero-hours contracts.

Labour would also ensure the current funding arrangements for the UK under the Barnett formula would continue to provide "billions of pounds more for our schools, hospitals and pensions" and the party would also invest £175 million in tackling the causes of poverty to "end the need for food banks".

It is also promising there would be no tuition fees for Scottish students at universities north of the border while bursaries for the poorest students would be increased by £1,000 a person.

Mr Murphy said: "Any of those by themselves is reason enough to have a Labour government.

"Any of those 10 ideas is reason enough to go out on May 7 and vote for the only social justice party in Scotland.

"But all 10 together shows the world of a difference between the Labour Party and the Tory Party, and shows just what is at stake on May 7."

He stressed: "This is a plan for change that Scotland will only see if we vote for Labour."

Mr Murphy said SNP plans for full fiscal autonomy, making Scotland responsible for raising all the money it spends on public services, would bring about an additional £7.6 billion of cuts or tax rises north of the border.

"The nationalists started this campaign promising more powers and an end to austerity," he added.

"Now they cannot publicly support their own policy on more powers because it will end the Barnett formula and create more austerity.

"So, the SNP's policy of full fiscal autonomy cannot deliver and would not deliver the end to austerity and change that Labour's plan would."