RICHARD Leonard’s ineptitude is “putting the Union at risk”, according to a Scottish Labour insider.

The Central Scotland MSP has been lambasted by a member of his own party after a humiliating turn at First Minister’s Question’s.

Nicola Sturgeon branded him “chief cheerleader” for Boris Johnson’s Tory Government during a debate on the latest GERS figures.

Leonard urged the First Minister to commit to a “quality jobs guarantee scheme” and demanded that she press Westminster to extend the furlough scheme – both of which the Scottish Government has already done.

The embarrassing episode angered Scottish Labour onlookers. A party source told the Herald: “Richard not only missed an open goal, he wasn’t even on the pitch.

“It’s bad enough that he’s dragging the party down with him, but he’s also putting the Union at risk with his ineptitude.”

UK Labour frontbencher Anneliese Dodds will visit Scotland today following record low polling results for the party ahead of next May’s Holyrood election and amid intense speculation over Leonard’s position.

The shadow chancellor, who was born in Scotland, is to meet members and take part in a briefing with political journalists.

Meanwhile, a report published today by the pro-UK think tank Our Scottish Future will attempt to strengthen the case for the Union following a series of polls suggesting majority support for independence.

Former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown has written a forward to the document which called for an “unprecedented level of co-operation” between the UK and Scottish Governments to prevent jobs being lost in the wake of the

pandemic lockdown.

The report said “current approaches by both governments are deficient, and risk Scottish jobs falling between the cracks of partisan bickering”.

In his foreword to the report, the former prime minister says: “The restructuring of the employment market over the next three years is likely to be far more profound and extensive than at any time in the last 50 years.

“Little that has been announced so far for life beyond the end of the UK furlough scheme in October leads us to believe that sufficient attention has been given to the long-term challenges ahead, and to measures that will avert mass redundancies in the short-term.

“But I believe as strongly now as I did during the global financial crisis that if we can discover the courage to co-operate and the will to work together, then there is no reason why we cannot succeed in overcoming the present challenges and building a stronger society.”

He said there should be locally flexible furlough schemes if certain areas had to go into lockdown.

The report said both Governments should form an “alliance for full employment” to support jobs in the long term with a new industrial strategy and a “green-sea deal” to maintain the North Sea as the UK’s energy hub.

In his response, Leonard said Governments in Edinburgh and London should “properly engage” with the report.

“Today’s report is a clarion call to the UK and Scottish Governments – it’s time for them to work together to save and create jobs and to make full employment a goal of public policy again,” he said.

Under Leonard’s leadership, Scottish Labour lost six of its seven MPs at December’s General Election and came fifth in the European elections.

A YouGov poll for The Times earlier this month highlighted Leonard’s weakness. He has an approval rating of minus 27, but more concerning for the party’s hierarchy was that 53% of Scottish voters do not have an opinion of him after three years as leader.

The poll, which showed support for Labour at 14% in both the constituency and regional list votes, leaves the party on course to drop to just 18 MSPs at Holyrood.