LABOUR was last night accused of “wheeling out Mr Project Fear” by selecting the former Better Together boss Blair McDougall to challenge the SNP in a bid to regain East Renfrewshire at the General Election.

McDougall was campaign director for the pro-Union side in 2014 and will be challenging Kirsten Oswald who triumphed over the former Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy in the SNP’s 2015 landslide.

In one of the biggest shocks of the night Oswald took the constituency with a majority of 3718 over Murphy, a result which, along with the loss of 40 out of the 41 Labour seats, prompted him to stand down as party leader.

“Labour really are scraping the barrel in their hunt for candidates, wheeling out Mr Project Fear himself for a campaign in which they are facing electoral oblivion – it truly is a terrifying thought,” a SNP spokesman said last night. “Only the SNP can stand up to the Tories’ reckless and damaging austerity agenda and fight back against their draconian and vile policies such as the two-child cap and rape clause.

“The SNP are working hard to win as many seats across Scotland as possible to protect our commun- ities from the callous and devastating cuts that the Tories are planning to inflict on our public services.”

The Tories, who took the parallel Eastwood seat at the Holyrood election last May are also targeting East Renfrewshire, which has previously been held by the party, and last night they underlined McDougall’s differences with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The Scottish Conservatives’ deputy leader and MSP for Eastwood, Jackson Carlaw, said: “How can the Labour candidate in East Renfrewshire expect people’s votes, when members themselves won’t back Jeremy Corbyn? It demonstrates the chaotic state the Labour Party finds itself in. Even Blair McDougall thinks Jeremy Corbyn can’t win, which tells voters across East Renfrewshire everything they need to know.

“Only our candidate, Paul Masterton, can beat the SNP here, as we did at last year’s election.”

In other constituencies, allies of Corbyn have been selected, with former MSP Cara Hilton to contest the Dunfermline and West Fife seat and Labour National Executive Committee member Rhea Wolfson chosen as candidate for Livingston.

Hilton lost her Holyrood seat last year to the SNP’s Shirley Anne Somerville. Former Scottish Parliament candidate Paul Sweeney will stand in Glasgow North East.

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: “These candidates show we are fighting hard across Scotland to boot the Tories out of office and deliver a Labour government on the side of working people.

“Applications flooded in from across the country to stand in this election, such is the determination of members to elect a Labour government for the many, not the few.

“Labour will run a positive campaign that rejects the divisiveness of the Tories and their plans for a hard Brexit, and the divisiveness of the SNP’s plans for a second independence referendum.

“In many areas across Scotland, it’s a two-horse race between Labour and the SNP. On June 8 people can vote for an SNP candidate who will campaign every day for another divisive referendum or they can back the Labour candidate who will be a local champion for their con- stituents.”

Labour said the full list of its cand- idates will be released in due course.

The SNP are deciding on five candidates for seats it does not hold. Business convener Derek Mackay is due to select contenders for Edinburgh West, Edinburgh South, Glasgow East, Orkney and Shetland and Dumfriesshire, Tweeddale and Clydesdale.

The Scottish Greens will decide where to field General Election cand- idates after the local elections on May 4. Patrick Harvie’s party is pinning its hopes on the expected collapse of Labour to gain a strong town hall presence.