JEREMY Corbyn is due to make a keynote speech on the constitution this Friday during his first visit to Scotland in 2017 when he is expected to back the party establishing a citizens' constitutional convention that will look at creating a federal UK, including a parliament for England and an elected Senate to replace the current House of Lords.

The UK party leader, who once famously said he was not a Unionist but a socialist, will speak on the future of the United Kingdom in Glasgow at an as yet undisclosed location.

Last week, he reacted coolly to the suggestion by Kezia Dugdale for a new Act of Union but party sources have made clear that he is not per se opposed to a federal set-up but wants the party to consider it within a convention, which will also include discussion of reforming the House of Lords to an elected chamber representing the nations and regions of the UK.

In December, the Scottish Labour leader outlined plans for a federal structure for the UK when she argued a new Act of Union was needed to "save the UK for generations to come".

She called for a convention, modelled on the one set up in Scotland ahead of the creation of the Scottish Parliament, to "re-establish the UK for a new age".

Her deputy Alex Rowley, meantime, has also called for Scottish Labour – which as part of a more federalised party structure was recently given new powers to set its own policies - to campaign for "Home Rule within a confederal United Kingdom".

Last November, Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister, put forward a more federal way forward, noting how in the wake of the Brexit vote Britain could see "discontent turn into anger as standards of living fall faster and jobs start to go".

He said at the time: "It is clear that the UK in its present form is not working for everyone. To prevent the harmful divisions that now exist from deepening, we need to reimagine the UK for new times.”

In the same month Paul Nuttall, the Ukip leader, called for a federal UK with the Commons acting as an English Parliament and the Lords becoming a Senate to act as a revising chamber for the UK's devolved institutions as well as the federal parliament looking after foreign affairs, defence and the UK budget.

Earlier this month, John McDonnell, the Shadow Chancellor and a key lieutenant of Mr Corbyn, said: "I believe there is immense potential in developing a radical federal structure.”

The party leader has said that while he is in favour of establishing a convention to look at various aspects of the British constitution, he distanced himself from Ms Dugdale's main proposal, saying: "I would not use the words new Act of Union."

The party leader’s appearance in Scotland will come just a week after David Anderson, the Shadow Scottish Secretary, suggested Mr Corbyn needed to raise his game north of the border.

In an interview with The Herald Mr Anderson, who represents Blaydon in Tyne and Wear, recognised that the Leader of the Opposition had to do more in Scotland and that he had failed to “make a mark” north of the border because of a hostile media and months spent internalising over last year’s party leadership contest.

Mr Anderson said that while it was “vital” for Labour to revive in Scotland and that without winning seats here it was probably unlikely the party would win power in 2020, he also admitted there was no written plan to resurrect Labour’s fortunes north of the border.

At the weekend, Jonathan Ashworth, the Shadow Health Secretary, told The Fabian Society that the party's decline in Scotland was making Labour unelectable in the rest of the UK.

"Unless we can show we are competitive in Scotland the Conservatives will run a message saying that we cannot trust Labour in Bolton because a Labour government can only be formed with the support of the Scots Nationalists. And so the interests of Banff and Buchan will come ahead of the interests of Bury and Bolton."

In his interview Mr Anderson, who last year controversially expressed his personal view that, as a last resort, Labour might consider a pact with the SNP, made clear this was no longer his view and that “there will be no pact; end of story”.

It is thought that after giving his speech in Glasgow Mr Corbyn will travel to Copeland in Cumbria to begin campaigning for the forthcoming Westminster by-election there; a date has yet to be fixed for the poll.