Alistair Darling has warned the Scottish Labour Party against veering towards the left after the election of Jeremy Corbyn as UK party leader.
The former Labour chancellor dismissed the suggestion that the left-winger’s leadership would be the key to the recovery of the party’s fortunes in Scotland.
Mr Corbyn has said next year’s Scottish Parliament election will be one of his top priorities after Labour’s disastrous general election defeat in Scotland at the hands of the SNP in May.
Mr Darling said Labour’s position in Scotland was “recoverable” but urged Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale not to move away from the centre ground in an attempt to take on Nicola Sturgeon’s party.
He told the Herald newspaper: “The Nationalists are quintessentially New Labour in their approach. They are parked in the centre ground.
“That’s why it would be a huge mistake for the Labour Party to think it should be pitching to the left.
“You cannot win an election in Scotland or the UK unless you take the majority of people with you, which means you do need to take the middle ground with you as well.”
He said he was unable to see a “silver lining” to Mr Corbyn’s election, adding that he was “not quite sure what he’s for”.
Mr Darling, who led the cross-party Better Together campaign during last year’s referendum on Scottish independence, also said he does not believe the majority of people in Scotland want a second referendum on the issue any time soon, arguing the economic case for independence was now “much more difficult to make”.