THE leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats has said he wants half of his party's parliamentarians to be women, despite his only female MSP looking likely to lose her Holyrood seat next May.

Willie Rennie will call on delegates to back his proposals to take positive action to see more women elected for the Liberal Democrats at the party's one-day conference in Dumferline on Saturday, saying "nothing else has worked".

At present all of the eight Liberal Democrat MPs at Westminster are men, as are four of their five MSPs. Alison McInnes, the sole female Liberal Democrat on the Holyrood benches, faces an uphill struggle to be re-elected after losing top spot on the North East Scotland regional list to former MSP Mike Rumbles for next May's elections.

Ms McInnes was voted off the top slot by members despite winning plaudits as her party's justice spokeswoman and playing a prominent role in holding Police Scotland to account. Her performance saw her make a shortlist of three in The Herald's Scottish Politician of the Year awards in the Committee MSP of the Year category, which will take place next month.

While Liberal Democrat selections for next year's Scottish Parliament elections have already been finalised, Mr Rennie hopes to see a gender-balanced group of parliamentarians by the start of the next decade.

In his conference speech, he is expected to say: "I know many in the party instinctively do not favour positive action but I need to be frank with you. Nothing else has worked. That is why I want you to support the steps I am taking.

"I have formed a working group which I am chairing to draw up proposals to put before you at the spring conference. My aim is that within the next six years we will have a bigger and stronger team of parliamentarians that will be truly representative of our party and of the society we seek to represent.

"I want half of our parliamentarians to be women. The status quo is no longer an option. It's a step change that we need to take and I am determined that we will take."

Delegates at the conference will also debate a proposal to raise income tax at Holyrood across all bands by one per cent to pay for increased funding for the NHS. The party is expected to reiterate its desire to see the United Kingdom adopt a federal structure, with a motion stating that devolution in isolation is an "inadequate response to the current constitutional challenge."