Rumoured Scottish Labour plans to promise "devo-max" in lieu of independence are "at
best inadequate," Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon claimed yesterday.

She laid into her rivals in a pre-emptive strike against Scottish Labour's devolution commission, which is expected to make headlines with several de facto campaign pledges at the party's annual conference in Perth this month.

Scots go to the polls in September to decide if Scotland should leave Britain, with the subject hotly debated on the Scottish left.

Meanwhile Scottish Labour has suggested its Westminster colleagues would grant new powers to the Scottish Parliament in the event of both a No vote and a Labour win at next year's British general election.

Insiders suggest the looming pledge package includes control over welfare, immigration, employment law and income tax.

It is understood the pledges would see Holyrood setting policy for up to 40 per cent of the money it spends - up from 12 per cent.

But Ms Sturgeon rubbished the proposals before an industrialist audience in Glasgow yesterday, slating further devolution as "demonstrably inadequate."

Scotland already had policy independence on health and education, she said - but the cashflow from Westminster typically reflected its own priorities.

"If public spending on health in England is replaced by private money, that will trigger cuts to public spending in Scotland," she said.

She added that Labour's plan lacked substance or a guarantee of delivery.