LABOUR’S next UK manifesto will include a commitment to oppose a second independence referendum, Richard Leonard will announce to UK Labour conference this week.

The Scottish Labour leader will tell delegates in Liverpool that Scotland does not need another independence referendum; rather, it needs a radical UK Labour government.

Nicola Sturgeon jumped on the announcement, claiming it was good news for the SNP.

The First Minister tweeted: "Scottish Labour's determination to remain alienated from swathes of its previous support as it attempts to out Tory the Tories on #Indy shows no sign of abating. Which can only be good news for @theSNP."

In his address to delegates, Mr Leonard is expected to say: “And let me say at the very outset: we don’t need another independence referendum to change Scotland, as far as I am concerned; we’ve just had one.

“The majority of people do not want one and as we meet here this week with the prospect of a general election, I can make clear today that the next Labour manifesto will oppose another independence referendum.

“We don’t need a referendum, we need the election of a Scottish Labour Government which is prepared to use its powers and a confident Labour Party reawakening hope out of despair across these shared islands.”

However, it is still unclear whether or not a future Labour, while opposing so-called Indyref2, would agree to facilitate one.

After Holyrood mandated Ms Sturgeon to call for another vote on Scotland’s future, Jeremy Corbyn made clear it should not be up to Westminster to gainsay a democratic vote in the Scottish Parliament.

Last week, when asked about a future Labour government facilitating a second independence referendum, the party leader said he was “not ruling out” such a move.

In a BBC interview, Mr Leonard would not confirm if he had discussed his manifesto announcement with Mr Corbyn.

He told the Sunday Politics show: "We want to be absolutely clear to the people of Scotland that there is no case for a second independence referendum, we just had a referendum in 2014, that settled the will of the people of Scotland and I don't think there is any support for a second independence referendum, which is why we are going to categorically in our manifesto in the lead up to the General Election, which may come as soon as later this year, state our opposition to the holding of a second independence referendum."

Asked whether or not he had spoken to Mr Corbyn and got his agreement that a future Labour government would not authorise a second independence referendum, he replied: "I speak to Jeremy Corbyn on a regular basis.

"We will be drawing up our manifesto because there is every prospect of there being an early general election and what I'm saying to you is that as somebody who will be a party to the drafting of that manifesto I will stand resolute on the question that there should not be a second independence referendum and I am expecting to get the support of the whole of the Labour Party on that question."

Jackson Carlaw for the Scottish Conservatives said: "So long as Jeremy Corbyn is Labour's candidate for prime minister, no-one should believe a word the party says on independence.

"Only a few days ago, Corbyn said he wanted to hand the keys to another divisive referendum to the SNP. Richard Leonard was too scared to stand up to Jeremy Corbyn on anti-Semitism and he'll be far too weak to do so on separation," added the party’s deputy leader.

Meanwhile, Mr Leonard today will say that only "radical Labour governments" in the UK can deliver the change that communities in Scotland need in a conference speech.

Mr Leonard will use a keynote address at The World Transformed conference in Liverpool to outline the socialist case for the UK at an event chaired by former UK Labour leader Ed Miliband.

Scottish Labour said that a UK Labour government would deliver £70 billion of investment to Scotland over a decade.

Mr Leonard will also outline the need for democracy in the economy with an interventionist industrial strategy and a "Macora law" to allow workers to buy their companies when they go up for sale or face closure.

Speaking ahead of the event the Central Scotland MSP said: "Labour is the biggest political movement in Europe, and we have energised people across the UK with our clear anti-austerity policies. I want that movement to understand only radical Labour governments within the UK deliver the real change that communities in Scotland need.

"A UK Labour government will deliver £70bn of investment to Scotland over a decade, but Scottish Labour in power in Holyrood will give working people more control.”

He will make clear Scottish Labour would be prepared to intervene, to “plan and not simply rely on voluntary business pledges and Adam Smith's invisible hand of the market but instead start to shift power from the market to working people”.

Mr Leonard will say: "That means a Scottish industrial strategy, with forward planning, economic planning and also environmental planning to tackle humanity's greatest challenge - climate change.

"We need democracy in our economy, not just when things go wrong but to help things go right in the first place," he will insist.

Mr Leonard will stress that it is working people who are the creators of the wealth and that they should have new rights to own the wealth that they create.

"That is the kind of radical and real change that Labour stands for in Scotland. Democratic socialism, not Nationalism, is what will transform Scotland into a country that works for the many, not the few," he will add.

But Murdo Fraser for the Scottish Conservatives said: "Many of the things proposed here would simply damage economic growth in Scotland and put off those who could be investing heavily here.

"Richard Leonard is living in a bygone era. He needs to ditch the misty-eyed nostalgia of the past and concentrate on policies that will actually make a positive impact on hardworking people in Scotland," he added.