NICOLA Sturgeon has hit out at Scottish Labour for “selfish and self indulgent” behaviour as infighting over the party’s leadership contest continues.

The First Minister said the party had “somewhat lost touch with reality” after the leadership race descended into a war of words between supporters of rival candidates Anas Sarwar and Richard Leonard.

The row broke out after a recording emerged of interim leader Alex Rowley backing Leonard despite a pledge to remain neutral in the contest.

He also faced accusations of being involved in plotting against former leader Kezia Dugdale, prompting Jackie Baillie MSP, who is supporting Sarwar, to call on Leonard to “urgently answer questions about his role in this plot”.

Responding to a request for comment from a journalist, a spokesman for Leonard later described Baillie’s intervention as “pish”.

During First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood, Leonard pressed Sturgeon on the future of the free bus pass scheme for pensioners amid an ongoing consultation, warning that the Scottish Government had qualified its commitment to the scheme by stating it must be sustainable in the long term.

Sturgeon replied: “I know Scottish Labour have somewhat lost touch with reality but is Richard Leonard really suggesting that we should have a scheme in place that is not sustainable for the long term?

“It’s because we value the bus pass scheme, because we want to see it continue to benefit people right across Scotland that we’re having this consultation to make sure it is sustainable for the long term and people long into the future can continue the benefits of it.

“And that really is the difference between the SNP and Labour. We fight for Scotland, Scottish Labour just fights amongst themselves.

“Yesterday – it was incredible yesterday wasn’t it? – we had Richard Leonard accused by Jackie Baillie of betraying every value that Labour holds dear. And then we had Richard Leonard saying this was just the latest Jackie Baillie...” at which Sturgeon was interrupted by Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh.

She continued: “I can’t actually say it presiding officer. Let’s just say it’s a description that covers much of what Jackie Baillie says in this chamber.”

Sturgeon, who was interrupted again by Macintosh, added: “The serious issue is this, this Government continues to take the decisions that are in the interest of the people of Scotland and by contrast Scottish Labour’s behaviour is selfish and self indulgent and it proves they are not fit to be in opposition, let alone a government.”

Earlier Rowley was met with laughter when he stood up to question the First Minister and a shout of “the microphone is on” came from the SNP benches. Rowley had been recorded saying Leonard was the “best candidate” during a private conversation at Labour’s conference.

Gemma Doyle, a former Labour MP, called for Rowley to stand down when she was asked about the row during a TV interview on Wednesday night.

Doyle said Rowley should stand down and that there should be an election for a successor as deputy leader.

But, speaking to journalists after First Minister’s Questions yesterday, Rowley said he intended to stay on as interim leader.

He said: “I’m clearly disappointed and gutted that what I thought was a private conversation was tape recorded. The point is, I now need to move on and get on with what I’m doing.

“We have a party that wants to unite and a membership that wants us to get on with the job in hand and that’s what we all need to do.

“We need to pull together, have this election and move forward.”

In the recording, published by the Scottish Sun newspaper, Rowley said he “privately didn’t believe Kezia would be there” for the Holyrood election in 2021, adding “our view was that Richard was the best person and therefore we should go with that plan”.

He said he had been a backer of Leonard “for some time now”.