Jeremy Corbyn will today pledge to make Scottish Labour virtually autonomous by not interfering in matters north of the border.
The UK leader will meet Scottish boss Kezia Dugdale, MSPs, trade union leaders, council leaders and Labour activists in Edinburgh and Glasgow in his first official engagements after the party’s conference in Brighton.
The Islington MP is trying to dispel worries raised by ex-Scottish leader Johann Lamont, who branded the operation a “branch office” with senior figures in Westminster pulling the strings.
Mr Corbyn said: “Under my leadership there will be no question about who is in charge of the Scottish Labour Party. Kezia Dugdale is leader of our party in Scotland and I will be working alongside her to win back support for Labour.
“Kez has said that she wants to make absolutely clear what the Labour Party stands for and who we stand with. That is also my mission across the UK. Too many people have told me that they think the Labour Party lost its way. We need to win back their trust by showing them exactly what difference a Labour Government would make to their lives.
“The stakes are high for Scotland. People can’t afford a Tory Government whose policies are making people work harder for less or an SNP Government that is intent on having the arguments of the past rather than looking to the future. It’s time for a Labour Government that would put our young people first and make sure that we are narrowing the gap between the richest and the rest.”
Meanwhile, Mr Corbyn also his party’s demise in Scotland was in part a result of its involvement in the Better Together campaign and he will attack the Conservatives during his visit.
During a radio interview, he continued his attack on previous Scottish Labour leaderships as he cited a failure to offer an alternative to austerity economics as another reason why support slumped.
When asked what went wrong for the party in Scotland, Mr Corbyn said: “I think what went wrong was the Better Together campaign.”
He said Labour is working to “develop our campaign up to the election next year” but is also listening to the views of Scottish members.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson slammed Mr Corbyn’s intervention.
She said: “Just a year ago two million Scots voted No to independence – many of them Labour supporters – and they will be appalled that Labour’s leader in Scotland seems no longer to value their views or votes.”
Labour’s only MP in Scotland, Ian Murray, said electoral law requiring single main campaigns for each side meant Labour’s involvement with Better Together was a necessity.
He said: “I think, in hindsight, we ran a very strong Labour No campaign but we didn’t get it off the ground quickly enough. I think that should have been front and centre of the whole referendum campaign.
“Jeremy is right to a certain extent but it’s easy to talk about these things in hindsight. It’s more of a narrative for the SNP than anything else.”