THOUSANDS of new Scottish Labour members are not being allowed to vote in its internal contest to rank candidates on its regional lists for the Holyrood elections – sparking accusations Kezia Dugdale has reneged on her pledge to open up the party to new talent.

The National can reveal the party’s executive committee has decided not to change a rule which stipulates members must have joined more than six months ago to take part in the January ballot.

It will mean anyone who joined ahead of the leadership campaigns will be ineligible to take part in the ranking of regional candidates – despite being allowed to vote for the UK and Scottish leaders this summer.

With a series of polls indicating the SNP is expected to win most of the constituency seats in May, the best chance of Labour candidates being elected to Holyrood is via the regional list section of the vote.

As a result, the internal contest for top places has become intensely competitive.

Last night, critics warned it would be “disastrous” for the party if it did not allow new members to take part and claimed it was a sign the “old guard” were still in charge.

One activist believed it was a deliberate strategy to help former MPs such as Anas Sarwar and Thomas Docherty as well as protect established centrist MSPs such as Jackie Baillie.

“This is against all the things Kez has been saying about ‘come, join and get involved’ in our party,” he said.

“In my view, it is a deliberate move to protect established figures by helping them get to the top of the list by relying on support from longer-term members.

“It’s clear the kind of people who are going to benefit are people like Anas Sarwar and Thomas Docherty. But it’s daft to rely on people who lost in the Westminster election so resoundingly to win for Labour at Holyrood. It will be a disaster electorally.

“Kezia should be jumping at the opportunity to get more people involved and allowing them to have a vote. Not doing so will push people away.”

He added: “I don’t think the hierarchy want a debate with the grassroots. For example, if I were Jackie Baillie and standing on the list, I would be really worried about whether new members would place me at the top.

“Ever since Tony Blair... the right of the Labour Party has waged a war on the grassroots. This is another such example.”

Patrick Harvie, MSP and co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, said: “This move confirms the suspicion that Labour’s old guard are terrified of change, and are willing to sacrifice the enthusiasm new members would bring, in order to keep control of an increasingly tired party machine.

“The Scottish Greens have benefited enormously from the vision and talent of those who have joined our party since the independence referendum, many of whom were former Labour members won over by our arguments.”

He added: “Any party that’s turning away its own members is doing democracy a huge disservice. With the energy and ideas of our new membership, the Greens are ready to build a strong progressive opposition in the next Scottish Parliament.”

The decision not to allow new members to take part in the regional listings ballot is also being seen as an obstacle to the beginnings of the emergence of a stronger left wing in the party, boosted by the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader.

Some 3,400 new members joined Scottish Labour in the aftermath of the UK leadership contest, which saw thousands of people pile into halls across Scotland to hear him speak.

A number of developments at Labour’s recent conference in Perth, including votes to oppose the renewal of Trident, to reject outright the transatlantic trade deal TTIP and to oppose the Conservatives' Trade Union Bill, also boosted the party’s left.

Voting slips to rank list candidates are being sent out in the New Year, with the result announced in February.

Ahead of the conference in Perth a few weeks ago, Dugdale threw open the event to members and pledged to end the “conference control freakery”.

She set aside Sunday as a members’ day, enabling activists to debate topics such as Trident, which saw members vote to scrap the nuclear weapons system.

It is understood the six-month rule came up for discussion at a recent meeting of Scottish Labour’s executive committee and the decision was taken not to change it to allow new members to take part because selections had already taken place for constituency candidates and these would have had to have been repeated.

A spokesman for Scottish Labour said: “The six months eligibility criteria for taking part in selections is a long-standing one and is consistent across both constituency and regional selections.”

He added that the party would publish a full list of Scottish Labour candidates in due course.

The National View: Fresh talent locked out as Labour line up the usual suspects