In words that will haunt Labour in the Glasgow North East by-election, UK Energy Secretary and someone tipped to succeed Gordon Brown as Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has admitted there are no "big differences" between Labour and the Tories.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Mr Miliband said: "On certain areas there are no differences between us... People don't like (politicians) pretending there are big differences when there aren't."

The admission, on the eve of the Labour party conference, is the second to cause embarrassment to Scottish Labour. In a separate interview, Chancellor Alistair Darling took a swipe at Labour's Holyrood leader Iain Gray - expressing exasperation at his incompetent leadership.

Commenting, SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson MP said: "Ed Miliband's admission that there are no big differences between Labour and the Tories will haunt Labour in the Glasgow North East by-election, and overshadow Iain Gray and Jim Murphy's conference double act.

"Labour and the Tories are indeed peas in a pod on the big issues - they both want to cut Scotland's budget, both are pro-Trident and both share the same anti-democratic stance in opposing a referendum on Scotland's future.

"Between Ed Miliband's admission that Labour are no different from the Tories, and Alistair Darling's attack on Iain Gray as incompetent, even by Labour standards, their party conference is of to a disastrous start."

Notes:

1. Further details of Mr Miliband’s interview can be found here.

2. The Chancellor’s full interview with The Herald, can be found here.