Anas Sarwar has attempted to distance Scottish Labour from the director of an influential thinktank closely linked to the shadow cabinet who called for people smugglers to be kept in a floating prison in Scotland.

The Holyrood party chief branded Josh Simons "stupid" for the remark made on LBC on Monday night and said he was a "fringe" figure.

However, the SNP pointed out that his Labour Together thinktank had been founded by key members of Sir Keir Starmer's top team.

READ MORE: Labour Together calls for people smugglers to be sent to Scotland

During a discussion on the UK Government’s Rwanda plan, Mr Simons told Iain Dale he had seen “no real evidence” that Rishi Sunak was “being tough on the borders and beefing up the policing and so on".

Mr Simons added: “I mean, you know, why don’t you send the smuggler gangs and put them on the barge that you know has been set aside for the asylum seekers and then ship the barge up to the north of Scotland? Who cares?”

SNP MP Chris Stephens said the remark was proof of Labour's "breathtaking arrogance towards Scotland".

"These comments could have been made by the far-right of the Tory Party. The fact they were made by a senior figure at the centre of Sir Keir Starmer's leadership shows how out of touch Starmer is with Scotland on so many important issues."

Alba's General Secretary Chris McEleny said it showed that to Labour "Scotland is a colony in the north that serves either to impose trial social policies like the poll tax on or to be the butt of political jokes at best or at worst completely ridiculous policy ideas".

There was criticism too from some on the Labour benches. 

MSP Monica Lennon said: "There should be no place in the Labour Party for these disgraceful comments.

"Not caring about the human rights of people seeking asylum and disrespecting the people of Scotland all in one breath is quite something."

When asked about the comment by the Daily Record, Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar said: “My first reaction is ‘who?’ Every party has elements on the fringes that give them moments of cringe.”

He added that it was a “ludicrous” comment to make:

“He doesn’t represent the Labour party’s view. He doesn’t represent the Labour party and it’s actually quite a serious issue he trivialised.”

“I think people that are making stupid, flippant comments like that are best ignored.”

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The SNP's Stewart McDonald took to Twitter to ridicule the claim that Labour Together was a fringe group. 

He shared a screengrab from the thinktank's website which said it had been "built" by MPs including Rachel Reeves, Wes Streeting, Shabana Mahmood, Steve Reed, Bridget Philipson, Lucy Powell, Lisa Nandy and Jon Cruddas.

"Quite a fringe when you look at who’s behind the group Simons is Director of.

"The shadow chancellor, the shadow health secretary, the shadow justice secretary, the shadow environment secretary, the shadow education secretary, the shadow leader of the commons..."

Mr Simons has apologised for the comment. He said: “Following my comments on LBC last night, I apologise for any negative insinuation about Scotland. I’m half Scottish, I love the country and it is where much of my family comes from.

"It was a poorly judged comment made in jest and doesn’t reflect my views, or the views of the Labour Party.

“I was seeking to draw attention to the immorality of housing asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution on a barge while smuggler gangs get off free under the Conservatives.”