SCOTTISH Labour leadership hopeful Anas Sarwar has won the support of two English mayors.

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and his Labour counterpart in Liverpool Steve Rotheram released a joint statement backing the former MP to succeed Kezia Dugdale.

Sarwar, who was ousted from Westminster in 2015 before being elected to Holyrood in 2016, is running against fellow MSP Richard Leonard for the job.

In their statement, Burnham and Rotheram said: “Having worked closely with Anas in Westminster and witnessed the passion with which he led the Labour campaign to strengthen Scotland’s place in the UK, it’s clear that he has the energy and experience to lead Labour back to power.”

They added: “Anas is a committed devolutionist and knows that we need to devolve power from Whitehall to our cities and regions.

“In these challenging times, we need to work together to ensure we can increase jobs and grow the economies of our great cities such as Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.”

Meanwhile, Leonard has unveiled plans for a “workers’ manifesto” aimed at improving rights, pay and conditions for people across Scotland.

It would make full employment a “central goal of public policy once more”, he said, while also ensuring public contracts are only given to firms that recognise trade unions, do not use zero-hours contracts and pay a fair amount of tax.