A motion has been tabled at the Scottish Parliament calling for Sir Stephen House to quit as Chief Constable of Police Scotland.
Beleaguered Sir Stephen has come under increasing pressure since the inception of the single force, with a number of controversies coming to light.
Now Scottish Labour’s shadow justice secretary, Hugh Henry, has put forward the motion at Holyrood, adding the public are “rapidly losing confidence in Police Scotland after a series of major mistakes”.
The call comes following the deaths of Lamara Bell and John Yuill in a car crash on the M9. The incident was reported to the police, who failed to follow it up for 72 hours.
Lamara’s brother, Liam, last week backed a petition demanding Sir Stephen resign over the force’s handling of the tragic accident.
Mr Henry said: “The public are rapidly losing confidence in Police Scotland after a series of major mistakes. Revelations of recent days appear to confirm that the tragedy on the M9 wasn’t an isolated incident and was the result of a number of failures since the creation of Police Scotland.
“Sir Stephen House should resign with immediate effect. Only when the Chief Constable moves on can the Scottish Government fully investigate the failings in Police Scotland and get a grip on policing across our country.
“There are also serious concerns about accountability. The Scottish Police Authority has utterly failed to hold Police Scotland to account in any way.
“This isn’t an issue of party politics – it’s about the policing of our country. I hope members from all the different political parties can support this motion.”
Sir Stephen has previously said he has no intention of stepping down before his planned retirement next year.
He said: “I believe the right thing to do is to stay to get through this process, to get through this tragic event and the series of events that followed it and to see what can be done to fix the situation.”
A police spokesman said the chief constable had “nothing to add” to his previous statement.