RICHARD Leonard has been condemned by a Scottish homelessness charity after using a picture of its soup kitchen to attack the SNP.

The Scottish Labour leader is facing accusations of tweeting the image “for political gain”.

His post read: “While the SNP rattle their sabres over independence, this is the scene outside a soup kitchen in Glasgow.

“The SNP has failed the people of Scotland and have no desire to take the radical action that we need to eradicate poverty and inequality in Scotland.”

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The charity which runs the soup kitchen slammed Leonard for using their picture, saying he hadn’t ever previously contacted the organisation.

The Homeless Project Scotland, which helps homeless and vulnerable people across Scotland, hit back on Twitter.

“We are appalled & disappointed that @LabourRichard would use our charity image of our soup kitchen for political gain. He never contacted us & has never shown our charity any interest.

“Didn't have the courtesy to acknowledge our charity in his tweet. Do u even know who we are?”

The charity's chairman Colin McInnes told The National why Leonard’s tweet prompted that response.

“I think Leonard has a cheek to use and image of a charity he knows nothing about and has never contacted,” he said.

“He’s putting pictures like that on Twitter to slag off the Government. But these are people who are coming out because they’re vulnerable, they’re lonely, they’ve got mental health issues, they want to chat to somebody – all sorts of reasons.”

He added: “What really irritated me is that he didn’t have the courtesy to thank the dedicated volunteers who travel all over the country to come and do that soup kitchen.

“We were just nothing [to him]. We feel as if we were nothing. We feel as if he just walked over the top of us. He should have credited us for what we do.”

The charity was launched in October last year as a temporary winter project but has since expanded, and was registered officially in June. Between March and August it distributed 3500 meals to vulnerable families and homeless people across Scotland every week.

Despite criticising Leonard for his post, McInnes thanked the Scottish Labour chief for doing a “fabulous job” of raising the charity’s profile.

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Leonard’s criticism of the SNP comes amid the party’s annual conference, which is being held online.

Opening the second day of the event earlier, Westminster leader Ian Blackford said no prime minister or UK government will be able to force Scotland to stay in the Union "against our will".

Responding to Leonard's tweet, SNP MSP Linda Fabiani said: "Instead of upsetting charities by trying to exploit their commendable good work in a shoddy attempt to score cheap political points, Richard Leonard would be better advised to use his position and platform more constructively.

"So instead, I invite him to join with the SNP in demanding all the powers necessary to combat the appalling Tory austerity policies that have created the abhorrent need for soup kitchens.

"Then together Scotland could eradicate such social injustice and help the homeless, struggling families, vulnerable and less fortunate across our country."

Scottish Labour declined to comment.

To donate to the Homeless Project Scotland, click here.