Sir Keir Starmer has made a direct appeal to lapsed voters who now back the SNP to help his incoming Labour government make Scotland “the beating heart of Britain” once again.

The UK Labour leader has appealed for Scottish voters to “send a government to Westminster” following an appeal from SNP leader and First Minister Humza Yousaf to “send a message” to London over independence.

In his keynote speech at a less-than-full Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow, Sir Keir didn’t announce any new policies, but ramped up the rhetoric and need for change ahead of this year’s general election.

In Scotland, Labour is expected to make big gains on the single MP it returned to Westminster in 2019, a tally doubled by victory in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election in October.

Pointing to Mr Yousaf’s plea for voters to “send a message” to Westminster by voting SNP, Sir Keir criticised the “level of his ambition” for Scotland “with all the problems this nation now faces”.

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He claimed that the SNP is “not interested in fixing Scotland’s problems”, adding that “they want to exploit them”.

The Labour leader said: “The mask has slipped, the pretence they were ever interested in improving the lives of working people, rather than using their problems as fuel for their grand cause...has been exposed.

“Scotland should send more than a message to Westminster - it should send a government. That is our ambition.

“You can’t tell me Scotland does not deserve better, because it does. And we will deliver it - a new Scotland, a new Britain – bound together, again by an old partnership.”

In another dig at the SNP, Sir Keir pointed to Labour’s roots of being the party for working people.

He said: “People say speaking about class or working people, that just isn’t a strong enough identity any more – not when we have to compete with a party that claims they, and only they, can be a vehicle for Scottish national pride.

“I believe people want unity in their politics. I believe people want a sense we can come together. That our four nations can pull in the same direction for a common good.”

Sir Keir acknowledged that many voters “have found a new political home with the SNP”, warning that “for our argument to convince again, it needs to feel true in the communities that once voted for us”.

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He added that “for the past 14 years, the SNP have had a faithful ally in a Conservative Party in Westminster” that “wilfully makes it impossible to argue that Britain is on their side”.

Sir Keir said that “at every opportunity, they have stoked the fires of division because they think it works for their political objectives”, claiming they have put “party first, country second”.

He also pointed to a suggestion by Mr Yousaf that Labour is so far ahead in the polls that voting for Sir Keir’s party in Scotland is unnecessary amid a plea to boost the SNP vote.

Sir Keir said: “No matter what the SNP say, the Tories can win the next election – of course they can, politics is volatile, it’s ridiculous to say otherwise.”

He added that while “there will always be a debate about Scotland’s constitutional future” if voters “want a Britain that places Scotland at the heart of the Westminster debate…that’s the change we can deliver for Scotland”.

In his speech, Sir Keir pointed to previously announced pledges including a national wealth fund to invest in Scottish steel and ports, a vow to create 50,000 new industrial jobs and a publicly-owned energy company to be based north of the Border.

He also reiterated a commitment that North Sea oil and gas workers will continue in employment “for decades to come” amid criticism from business leaders over plans for a windfall tax.

Sir Keir concluded that his party’s blueprint could “build a new Scotland” and make the country “once again the beating heart of Britain”.

In response, SNP social justice spokesperson, David Linden, claimed the speech shows "only the SNP is offering people across Scotland the right to choose a stronger, fairer and more prosperous future as an independent country".