Scottish seats are the key to a Labour victory in the next general election, Jeremy Corbyn will tell candidates on Tuesday.

The Labour leader is due in New Lanark to meet with those selected to stand in target Westminster constituencies as part of his four-day trip north of the border.

The 2017 ballot saw the party gain six seats in Scotland after plummeting to just one Scottish MP in 2015.

Labour is targeting a number of SNP-held constituencies where swings of less than 1% would be required to win.

Seats include Glasgow East, Airdrie and Shotts, Lanark and Hamilton East, Motherwell and Wishaw, Inverclyde and Dunfermline and West Fife.

Mr Corbyn will say: “We are within touching distance of a Labour government that works for the many, not the few. Make no mistake, we are ready to fight and win the next general election.

“While the Tory Government stumbles from one crisis to another, Labour is selecting candidates and laying the groundwork to win the next election – whenever it is called.

“Labour has the candidates and the policies that will provide the hope, transformation and investment that Scotland needs, and which I believe will help us win the next general election.

“It will be Scottish voters who kick the Tories out of Downing Street when the time comes – and the whole of the UK will benefit from a Labour government that ends austerity and invests in our people and public services.”

SNP depute leader Keith Brown said: “Scotland needs no lectures from Jeremy Corbyn about standing up to Tory austerity – instead he should apologise for his shameful backing for the Tories’ Brexit which threatens thousands of Scottish jobs.

“That is why opinion polls show Labour losing ground in Scotland.”