SCOTTISH Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie is “keen to encourage” Labour and Tory MSPs to quit their parties and align with so-called independents south of the border, he said at the weekend.

Speaking at his party’s conference in Hamilton yesterday, Mr Rennie said there had been a “huge paradigm shift” in British politics.

But Labour said the Independent Group, which was formed in Westminster this week by leading Blairites and later joined by three pro-EU Tories, would end up in the “same irrelevant position” as the Scottish Lib Dems.

Mr Rennie claimed that there were MSPs at Holyrood who were “incredibly frustrated” with their parties – but he refused to name them or say how many there were.

“They’ve seen their colleagues leaving down south, people who are like-minded leaving down south, and I would encourage them to make the same step up here,” he said.

“I talk to lots of people on either side and I know they are incredibly frustrated by the direction of travel for their parties and the way that they have personally been treated in some cases as well.

“Whether it is enough, time will tell. But once the dam breaks in Scotland, there is potential for them to come. I’m keen to encourage that to happen.”

But Labour frontbencher Neil Findlay pointed to the Lib Dems’ own disunity at Holyrood, where MSP Mike Rumbles has voted against the party line over leaving the EU.

“Willie Rennie sits in a group of five who themselves cannot agree on Brexit and, in previous years, how they vote on the Scottish budget,” Mr Findlay told the Star. “The idea that the Liberals are an attractive proposition is somewhat far-fetched.”

The Lothian MSP said the Lib Dems were “still paying a very heavy price for imposing austerity and eye-watering cuts” during their 2010-15 coalition with the Conservatives at Westminster.

“Given that some of the leading players in the Independent Group are open about their role in supporting austerity, I can see why Willie Rennie is courting them,” Mr Findlay added.

“I would suggest that the Independent Group are most likely to end up in exactly the same irrelevant position as Willie Rennie’s party.”