The SNP is not a progressive party and Labour will not strike a deal with the Nationalists at Westminster in the future, a senior figure has claimed.
Anneliese Dodds said the Scottish Government must "get a grip" on NHS services and bring down waiting times that have grown because of the covid pandemic.
In an interview with the Record while on a visit to Glasgow, the chair of UK Labour said it was her party that was speaking up for working people and those concerned about the future of local services.
The former shadow chancellor, who was born in Aberdeen, insisted Labour could win back voters from the SNP if it made "strong arguments" on issues that mattered to them.
Labour has just one MP representing a Scottish constituency - but UK leader Keir Starmer recently ruled out working with the Nationalists in the Commons except on environmental issues.
The SNP this week claimed Starmer was "out of touch" with Scotland and pointed to a YouGov survey of Labour members which found a majority across the UK backed a second independence referendum in the next few years, including those who supported him to become leader.
Asked if Labour members would be happy with a deal with the SNP, if it meant the party returning to power at Westminster, Dodds said: "No, it would not be a benefit, as ultimately the SNP is not a progressive political party in my view."
Dodds is currently leading a UK-wide review of Labour policy to try and identify emerging trends emerging that will likely dominate the lives of people until 2030.
She praised the work of Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and insisted she was "passionate" about reviving the party's prospects north of the Border.
Dodds said: "I want to see Labour in a position in which we win that next general election. I really think we need to have that Labour representation - it's Labour that is the party of progressive socialism.
"Anas and his team are the ones who have been speaking up on the youth unemployment crisis we've got in Scotland, and the situation in the NHS.
"Right now, we've got people not being treated for cancer because of the virus and we have got to get a grip on that."
She added: "We need to be increasing our strength in Scotland. This is something I'm passionate about.
"I was brought up in the north-east of Scotland and I really want to see us winning seats again.
"It's really important to me that we have that Labour strength again, and I think it's important to our local communities, as those Labour representatives have been the ones standing up for working people."
Asked how the party could begin to win back some of the many pro-independence voters who have ditched Labour in favour of the SNP, she added: "When I've talked with people on the doorstep - and I was up campaigning ahead of the Airdrie and Shotts by-election - the first issue they wanted to talk about was what happening with schools and local NHS services.
"I think it's Scottish Labour that is making the running and taking the fight to the SNP on those questions.
"Where we've sadly seen Scottish people let down, it's about having strong arguments in those areas that we're going to win."
She added: "There is a big frustration when people's basic expectations about what government's should be delivering in areas like the NHS, for example, that does mean there is a different framework for politics.
"It's important both the SNP Government at Holyrood and the Tory Government at Westminster are held to account there.
"When we know when it comes to NHS waiting lists we can get them down and when Labour was in government we did get them down."
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