KEZIA DUGDALE has unveiled a plan to “end austerity” in Scotland in a bid to win back to Labour left-wing voters who have defected in droves to the SNP.

The Scottish Labour leader told the party’s conference on Saturday that it was standing on the “most radical Labour manifesto ever” in May’s Holyrood elections.

The manifesto is underpinned by a brave pledge not to offer populist tax giveaways if public spending is being cut.

“It will set out what a Scottish government has to do to take a different path from Tory austerity,” Ms Dugdale told delegates in Glasgow.

“Any party claiming to be against austerity must support [the manifesto]. It is a pledge to prevent billions of pounds of unnecessary cuts.

“If the SNP don’t match our anti-austerity pledge, their claims to be anti-austerity will be exposed as false.”

Ms Dugdale declared: “I am a socialist,” and accused SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of posturing as a socialist when it suited her.

“So many Scots were excited to watch Nicola Sturgeon in the last TV debates position herself as the great anti-austerity alternative — only to see her come home to force through the Tories’ cuts in Scotland,” Ms Dugdale railed.

She said the First Minister had shown her “arrogance” by declaring victory for the SNP in the May 5 poll before a single vote has been cast.

“We’re here to tell her not take her power for granted,” stormed Ms Dugdale. “We’re here to tell her not to take people for granted.”

But the depleted Scottish Labour Party was dealt another blow this weekend by a poll predicting that, for the first time, they will finish third in Scotland — behind the Tories.

The SNP will have 70 seats, with the Tories on 22 and Labour on 21, according to the Daily Record.

“On the day the opinion polls showed Labour lagging behind the Tories, these are simply empty promises from a party that openly admits it is

campaigning for second place,” said SNP MSP Derek MacKay.

Labour has promised to build a new generation of council houses, ban fracking and regulate buses.