Scottish and UK Labour “don’t have to sing from the same hymn sheet all the time,” the shadow health secretary has said after splits over gender and welfare reforms.

Wes Streeting also rejected claims that Scottish Labour was a “branch office” of the London operation, joking that Scottish deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie would tell him to “**** off” if he ever tried to tell her what to do. 

Mr Streeting, tipped as a possible successor to Sir Keir Starmer, made the remarks at the Edinburgh Fringe at Iain Dale’s All Talk at the Pleasance EICC.

Scottish Labour and the UK Leadership have had several recent public spats over policy.

Sir Keir recently said a new Labour government would keep the two-child benefit cap for families, also known as the “rape clause”, which Scottish Labour want to axe.

The UK leader also said it had been a “mistake” for Holyrood to legislate for gender reforms allowing people to acquire a new legal gender through self-ID alone.

He said a Labour government would maintain the use of a medical diagnosis, while Scottish Labour has said it stills wants to “demedicalise” the process.

Asked how important it was that Scottish and UK Labour “sing from the same hymn sheet”, Mr Streeting argued devolution allowed for differences.

He said: “I don’t think differences are embarrassing. We’re the party of devolution.

"If you believe in devolution… You have to accept that people may well use those freedoms to make different choices. 

“In the case of UK and Scottish Labour they’re not wildly different choices, they’re subtle and important differences, but that’s absolutely fine.”

He mocked the idea that he would ever tell Scottish Labour what to do, and if he tried that with Dame Jackie “the second would be ‘off’”.

He added: “We don’t have to sing from the same hymn sheet all the time.”

He said Holyrood’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill - passed before Christmas but then vetoed by the UK Government and now embroiled in a court case - would have been a lot better if the Scottish Government had accepted some Labour amendments.

The gay MP said the toxic atmosphere had “set the cause of LGBT rights back”.

He went on: “I’ve got quite a lot of criticisms to make of the SNP, but on the gender recognition reforms, I would cite their Bill as a really good example of what happens if you only ever legislate with good intentions and don’t legislate for worst case scenarios and think about the risks and the challenges. We could learn from that at UK level.”

Mr Streeting also talked up a revival for Scottish Labour as it goes into the Rutherglen & Hamilton West byelection and looks ahead to the Holyrood election of 2026.

He said the SNP’s “implosion” has put wind in Scottish Labour’s sails, and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was a credible candidate to be First Minister.

“I feel like Scottish Labour is back in business as a serious political force in Scotland and yes, the extraordinarily explosive implosion of the SNP has put wind in our sails.

“But whether it’s UK Labour with Keir [Starmer] or Scottish Labour with Anas, there wouldn't be a ship-shape vessel with sails without the leadership they’ve shown.

“I think even his [Mr Sarwar’s] political opponents in the Tories and the SNP would say here’s someone who is objectively a credible candidate for First Minister of Scotland.

“And I think we are now in a position where people are taking us seriously.

“Boris Johnson looked unassailable until he wasn’t. Nicola Sturgeon looked unassailable until she wasn’t and political gravity set back in.

“What I’ve found on the doorstep [in and around Glasgow] is that people are now judging the SNP on their record in government in a way they haven’t for quite some time and it feels like Scottish politics is competitive again.

“The new Scottish parliamentary election looks exciting from Labour’s position.”