NICOLA Sturgeon has claimed that Richard Leonard’s leadership is the least of Scottish Labour’s problems - stressing that a string of leaders has not made a difference to the party's fortunes.

Mr Leonard is under pressure to quit as leader of Scottish Labour after a failure to improve the party’s standing in polling with the public ahead of next year’s Holyrood election.

Ms Sturgeon was asked about Mr Leonard’s future on Sky News.

She said: “I have lost count of the number of leaders Labour have had over the years the SNP’s been in government - it doesn’t seem to make much difference.

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“I’ve got no view one way or the other on whether Richard Leonard should be leader of Scottish Labour or somebody else.

“Scottish Labour has got much more fundamental issues – they are at sea on the key issue of Scotland’s future. Most people in Scotland don’t really know what Scottish Labour is for.”

She added: “I listened to Richard Leonard yesterday justify his continued leadership. His main justification appeared to be that the things he believed in were already being done or were being progressed by the SNP in government.

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“If the SNP in government is doing the things he thinks is important, it just continues to beg the question ‘ what exactly is Scottish Labour for?’

“I think until they’ve answered that question and until they get a position that distinguishes them from the Conservatives on the matter of Scotland’s future, then they can have as many leaders as they like but they are going to continue to find it really hard to make any impact on Scottish politics.”