SCOTTISH Labour needs to reclaim its identity as the party of working people and prove it can be as optimistic as the SNP, a hustings between potential leaders of the party has heard.

The call came during a debate between the three leadership hopefuls, MP Jim Murphy and MSPs Sarah Boyack and Neil Findlay.

Mr Murphy told a packed meeting in Glasgow that following the referendum Labour had been "magnanimous" in victory while the SNP had been "victorious" in defeat.

He said: "There is an energy about constitutional nationalism and we can't stop that energy, but we have got to match it.

"We have got to reach out to those hundreds and thousands of decent people who voted Yes, but are not nationalists.

"They have turned their back on us because we have not been good enough and we need to get back in the game."

Mr Murphy said the Scottish Labour Party had also suffered because of the "tone" of its politics and the fact disagreements had been an "open book".

He added: "We have allowed the SNP to be the party of optimism and the party of sunshine and we have given the impression that we are looking forward to a rainy day.

"So few people have got any sense of what we're for. We've been the No party. We've got to pull ourselves up.

"We have to understand the anger of many of the Yes voters who were desperate for change. Not all the Yes voters want independence.

"A lot of them were just scunnered, frustrated, with the status quo and wanted change, so we have to deliver the change."

Mr Findlay called for "clear red water" between the policies of the Scottish Labour Party and the SNP.

He said: "We will take them on by policy. We have to have a policy agenda that creates clear red water between us and them and that says we are a proud Labour Party.

"We have a new First Minister in Scotland whose ambition is not independence, but destroying the Scottish Labour Party. We cannot allow that to happen.

"The Scottish people want us to be the Labour Party again - the party that represents working people. We are true to our values. If we do that then we will win again."

Ms Boyack also said it was time for the Labour Party to change by providing a clear vision for Scotland based on social justice.

She said: "People want to talk to us and they want us to listen to them and they wanted us to respond.

"We need to think differently about how we do politics in Scotland and we need to understand that people want more from us. It means changing what we do because politics has changed."

The audience also heard from deputy leadership candidates Katy Clark MP and Kezia Dugdale MSP. The leadership ballot closes on December 10, with successful candidates to be announced on December 13.

l Two senior Labour MPs have clashed on social media over the leadership of the Scottish Labour party, after Shadow ­Northern Ireland Secretary Ivan Lewis appeared to call on trade unions and others not to try to stop Mr Murphy from becoming leader of the party in Scotland.

Tom Watson, former Labour campaign chief and close ally of Gordon Brown, tweeted: "Presumably you'd rather they quietly elect your candidate whilst we all watch. Plus ca change."

Mr Lewis responded by ­tweeting: "I want party to choose leaders in an open democratic way. Your problem is this is one leadership election you can't manipulate."

Mr Watson responded: "How interesting. Which ones do you think I manipulated?"