SCOTTISH Justice Secretary Neil Gray must cut the number of people “stuck on remand” to tackle the prison “overcrowding crisis,” Scottish Labour has urged.

The call came from the party’s justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill, after Peter Murrell was remanded in custody after pleading guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 from SNP coffers.

While the former SNP chief executive is due to be sentenced on June 23, Ms McNeill warned many inmates are “kept for months in remand,” with the latest figures showing 2,149 jailed awaiting sentencing or trial on May 1 — part of a prison population which soared to a new high of 8,602 inmates on May 20.

Urging ministers to “drive down the use of remand” and instead “invest in credible, workable alternatives to prison for low-level offences,” Ms McNeill said: “Scotland’s prison population is at a record high, despite several emergency release schemes being adopted by the Scottish government in an attempt to curb the issue.”

Warning of the impact of “overcrowding and staff burnout,” she added: “Neil Gray must get on top of the serious problems facing our justice system, including by tackling the overcrowding crisis in our prisons, addressing the courts backlog, and cutting the number of people stuck in remand.”

Mr Gray said: “As is well known, decisions on whether to grant bail ahead of trial or sentencing are for the independent courts.

“While there will always be cases where use of remand is necessary, the Scottish government has been working with justice partners to change how remand is used, including increasing the availability, consistency and effectiveness of bail options, such as bail supervision and electronically monitored bail.

“I would hope others who support a sustainable prison population would back this.”