LABOUR members who support independence have told of how they “almost winced” when they heard Keir Starmer adopt a hardline Unionist position in his conference address.

One activist described a “breath-taking arrogance” in the party towards Scotland, saying it cared little about winning back former voters who had switched to the SNP and is now focussed on “stealing Unionist votes”.

Both active members voted Yes in 2014 and said they were still open to independence, but would want to see what the prospectus was before committing to supporting independence in the event of a new referendum.

They both wanted to see a more radical socialist country, and not a version of “Tory Britain” transposed into an independent Scotland, they said separately.

During his 90-minute conference address, Starmer told delegates “Labour is the party of the Union” as he attacked Nicola Sturgeon’s record in government and the SNP’s ambition to deliver Scottish independence.

“Scotland is in the unfortunate position of having two bad governments. The Tories in Westminster and the SNP in Holyrood. When Nicola Sturgeon took office she said she wanted to be judged on her record. Well, these days with the poorest society less well educated and less healthy, and with the tragedy of so many drug related deaths, we hear rather less about the SNP’s record,” he said.

“The SNP and the Tories walk in lockstep, they both exploit the constitutional divide for their own ends. Labour is the party that wants to bring our nations together. Under the fantastic leadership of Anas Sarwar, Labour is the party of the Union.

"Because it’s not just that divorce would be a costly disruption, although that’s true, and it’s not just that our economic union is in all our interests, although that is also true. It’s that we’re more progressive together, we are more secure together, we’re a more bigger presence in the world together.

“We are greater as Britain than we would be apart. As Gordon Brown said recently, when a Welsh or Scottish woman gives blood, she doesn’t demand an assurance that it must not go to an English patient. I’m delighted that Gordon will lead our commission to settle the future of the Union.”

Starmer’s words signal a much more fierce opposition to independence and to a second independence than the party has had since the 2014 vote.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon tells Anas Sarwar to back devolving more powers to Holyrood

“The section in Starmer’s speech on Scotland was quite lazy I thought, a bit of an after-thought. We need to be convincing people who left the party to vote for the SNP, whether that was on domestic issues or constitutional grounds, to return,” said the member.

“I don’t see how we do that by being an overtly and overwhelmingly Unionist party.

“I winced almost when when he said ‘Labour are the party of the Union’. There’s an element of it which is just tone-deaf and I don’t think it will do the party any favours.”

A second Labour member said it sounded like the speech was written by advisers in London who had little idea of what was happening in Scotland.

They were asked what the strategy was and whether it was directed at getting more support from Tory voters with the aim to move into second place at Holyrood from the party’s current third position.

The member replied: “I think it is breathtaking arrogance. They are looking to steal Unionist votes where they can and are waiting for the SNP to trip and fall and then gather any support from there.”

Pressed if these were independence supporters who had moved away from the SNP, they said: “Yes, but we are not offering policy programme that would attract those people.”

The two Labour members gave their views less than a week after former Labour first minister Henry McLeish said he would support independence if there was no prospect of a radical reform of the UK with more powers for Scotland.

The National: Henry McLeish pictured in the City of Glasgow College where he is now chairman...Photograph by Colin Mearns.11 January 2012.For Herald news, see interview by Andy Denholm..

Earlier this year, former Labour MEP David Martin also called for a much more radical version of devolution with all powers apart from defence devolved to Holyrood.

And just ahead of the party conference, left-wingers MSP Katy Clark and Labour peer Pauline Bryan called on the party leadership to back a “third way” as an alternative to independence or the UK.

They called for powers over immigration, taxation, drugs laws and defence to be devolved to Holyrood.

Their intervention will be seen as a challenge to Labour leaderships north and south of the Border to adopt a more radical stance on devolution ahead of indyref2, which Sturgeon has vowed to hold by the end of 2023.

Bryan said: “Should there be a future referendum it must be on the basis of three options; status quo, radical change short of independence and independence.

“If Labour is ever to recover its connection with Scotland’s working-class communities it must embrace a platform for self-determination and radically expanded powers rather than continuing the uber-Unionism that has turned so many former voters away.”