Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale denies Jeremy Corbyn 'problem'

Mr Corbyn addressed the Scottish Labour conference in October - but will not be attending its spring conference on Saturday

The Scottish Labour leader has insisted there is no problem in Jeremy Corbyn not attending the party's Scottish conference.

Kezia Dugdale said that she, rather than the party's UK leader, was "in charge" of Scottish Labour.

She said Mr Corbyn "doesn't need an invite and did not decline to come".

The UK leaders of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have both addressed their Scottish conference is recent weeks.

Scottish Labour will be holding a one-day conference at the Glasgow Science Centre on Saturday in what will be the party's last major gathering before the Holyrood election on 5 May.

There will be full live coverage of the conference on the BBC Scotland news website, and Ms Dugdale will be answering readers' questions in a webcast ahead of the event.

'Good friends'

Neither Mr Corbyn nor Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell will be attending - despite Mr McDonnell having other engagements in Glasgow over the weekend.

It is thought to be the first time since 1991 that a UK Labour leader has not spoken at the party's Scottish conference.

Mr Corbyn did address the Scottish Labour conference in October, and the party has said he will be campaigning in Scotland ahead of the election.

Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Ms Dugdale told presenter Gary Robertson he was "looking for problems that don't exist" when he asked her about Mr Corbyn's non-attendance.

She said: "I lead an autonomous Scottish Labour party - I am in charge. I work very closely with Jeremy Corbyn, we are good friends, but he doesn't need to be there to offer support to me or indeed to the Scottish Labour campaign."

Opinion polls are predicting Nicola Sturgeon will remain as first minister - with Ms Dugdale and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson fighting for second place

Ms Dugdale said there was a "new age" for the Scottish Labour party which meant "the Scottish Labour leader is in charge of what happens in Scotland", with the party "putting Scotland first".

She added: "I am incredibly supportive of Jeremy Corbyn, very loyal to him. We are a good team and part of being a good team is knowing when to take your place.

"And this weekend I am going to lead the Scottish Labour party towards the Scottish Parliament election. It is really that simple."

Second place

Opinion polls have suggested the SNP is on course to secure another majority in the Scottish Parliament, with Labour and the Conservatives battling for second place.

Labour was left with just one MP in Scotland after last year's general election - but Ms Dugdale declined to make any predictions about how many seats it would win at Holyrood, saying only that she was "committed to renewing the Scottish Labour party".

The party has said it will have a "clear 50:50" split between men and women in the 108 candidates it fields in the election.

George Osborne announced an income tax break for higher earners in his Budget

Ms Dugdale has sought to put clear political ground between her party and the SNP and Conservatives by proposing a 1p increase in income tax rates in Scotland - a position also backed by the Liberal Democrats.

The party - like the SNP - has also said it would not follow George Osborne in raising the threshold for paying the 40p top rate of income tax to £45,000, a measure which the Chancellor announced in his Budget on Wednesday.

The Treasury has said a typical higher rate taxpayer would be about £400 better off under the plans, which will come into force in April next year - when new powers over income tax are due to be handed to Holyrood under the Scotland Bill.

Scottish Labour has also proposed a 50p top rate of income tax for those earning more than £150,000 in Scotland, which Ms Dugdale said would raise "between £70m and £110m a year" towards closing the attainment gap in the country's schools.

But she said a pledge made by previous leader Jim Murphy last year to use money from a proposed UK-wide Mansion Tax to pay for 1,000 extra nurses in Scotland would not be included in its manifesto for the Holyrood election.