A LEADING Labour activist and Better Together campaigner has called for a new independence referendum, saying the status quo is no longer an option for Scotland.

Mike Dailly, a solicitor advocate best known for championing Glasgow's poor on housing and poverty issues, said he has still to decide between full independence and federalism.

But the veteran Labour campaigner said he did not believe that Scotland could suffer "another decade or two of UK Government austerity".

Speaking to The Sunday Herald, he said: "This isn’t in Scotland’s interests. We’ve paid a heavy price for these internationally discredited policies that prevent economies to grow. UK national public debt doubled as a percentage of GDP from 40 to 80% between 2009 and 2015.

"But the human cost is more. Social injustice has been perpetuated and the hopes and aspirations of our current and future generations crushed. It’s a needless tragedy. Brexit permanently changes our constitutional arrangements for the worse. A second Scottish independence referendum is justified on that basis alone."

Dailly is one of several pro-UK figures to express fears over staying in the current union after Brexit. Former First Minister Henry McLeish and former health minister Malcolm Chisholm are among Labour leaders to declare themselves "indy-curious".

Dailly added: "We need to put out the fire of austerity in Scotland. That could be done in different ways. Whether through independence or a federal arrangement. The fall out from Brexit will take time to manifest. It’s right we begin a conversation about this because we need to see the evidence, and debate the best solution for Scotland whatever that may be. The status quo isn’t an option for us."

He said that the Scottish Government should be allowed to issue bonds or gilts to raise money to offset austerity. "That could be done under a federal arrangement or independence."

The activist, who is understood to have discussed his decision with both First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, said he did not believe joining the Euro was a good idea and called for a discussion on a Scottish pound. He said: "If Scotland’s best interests lay in a federal arrangement we need a conversation about what that would look like having regard to international precedents.

"Once you accept the reality of a Conservative Government at Westminster for the foreseeable future you are accepting more cuts, and the inability of Scotland to prosper. The inability to tackle the scourge of poverty, to grow our economy, and fulfill our undoubted potential. So the conversation and journey needs to begin."