THE First Minister has said Labour leadership contender Jess Phillips will have the party's Scottish members "running for the hills".

Phillips, who is due to visit Glasgow today, is expected to pledge that under her leadership Labour would be "100% committed to the Union".

Yesterday Phillips hit out at fellow contender Rebecca Long-Bailey after she said she would not block indyref2.

On Twitter, she wrote: "Let nationalists make the case for nationalism, we should make the argument for solidarity and internationalism."

Nicola Sturgeon quote tweeted the post, writing: "It’s not independence that’s threatening Scotland’s internationalism - it’s not being independent and therefore dragged out of the EU against our will that’s doing it."

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Phillips then replied to the SNP leader outlining her opposition to Scottish independence, and adding: "The SNP’s abject failings on education and health show that it is your administration that remains a threat to opportunity and equality for working people in Scotland." 

Jess Phillips is singing from exactly the same hymn sheet as Boris Johnson today. The sound in the background is Scottish Labour’s few remaining voters running for the hills. https://t.co/bZB89qtdyq

This morning, Sturgeon posted a link to a Times article about Phillips's Unionist credentials, accusing her of "singing from exactly the same hymn sheet as Boris Johnson".

She added: "The sound in the background is Scottish Labour’s few remaining voters running for the hills."

Labour now has just one MP in Scotland - Ian Murray in Edinburgh South. 

The party's Scottish seats have dwindled in the elections following the independence referendum, during which Labour teamed up with the Tories to campaign for a No vote.

The party had 41 Scottish MPs at the time of that vote, but that dropped to one in 2015, seven in 2017 and back to one in 2019. 

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According to John Curtice, it's also thought that about 30% of Labour voters indicate support for independence.

Under Jeremy Corbyn's leadership Labour had said they would not block indyref2 but wouldn't grant a Section 30 order in the early years of a government. 

It seems that policy would continue under Long-Bailey's leadership, but not Phillips's.

Sir Keir Starmer, who is yet to set out his position on indyref2, won the most nominations in the leadership contest as the deadline passed yesterday. He gained 88, followed by Long-Bailey with 33, Lisa Nandy on 31 and Phillips and Emily Thornberry both on 23 each.