Scottish Labour is calling for a constitutional convention to "re-establish the UK for a new age"

7 December 2016, 07:06 | Updated: 7 December 2016, 07:07

Scottish Labour is calling for a constitutional convention to "re-establish the UK for a new age''.

Leader Kezia Dugdale believes devolution has been positive but described some of the progress as "erratic'', leaving other parts of the UK behind.

She has now written to Theresa May reiterating Gordon Brown's call for a convention to set out a ``more federal constitution''.

In a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research in London, Ms Dugdale will say the Tories have ``put our Union at risk''.

She is expected to say: "The time has come for the rest of the UK to follow where Scotland led in the 1980s and 1990s and establish a People's Constitutional Convention to re-establish the UK for a new age.

"The convention should bring together groups to deliberate on the future of our country and propose a way forward that strengthens the UK and establishes a new political settlement for the whole of our country.

"This is a convention that the Government should convene, and I have written to Theresa May today outlining Scottish Labour's desire to see this happen. However, if the Government is not willing, as Gordon Brown has said, the opposition should convene a convention.

"Some may say this is unrealistic, but it would follow the model of the Scottish Constitutional Convention which, without Government support, established the basis for the settlement that delivered a Scottish Parliament in 1999.

"It would also - for the first time - provide a coherent approach to answering the question of how our country is best governed.

"While devolution has been positive for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, we have to acknowledge that progress has been erratic and while there has been significant progress in some parts of the UK, other parts have been left behind.''