Owen Smith has risked undermining the Scottish Labour party after admitting that he wouldn't oppose a second referendum on Scotland's independence.
Ahead of May's Holyrood election, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said she never wanted to take part in another referendum and ruled out giving her backing to one over the five-year term of parliament.
However, speaking on Radio Scotland on Wednesday morning, UK Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith said he wouldn't stand in the way of a rerun of 2014's vote on the country's independence.
Asked directly if he would oppose another referendum, Smith replied: "No, of course not. If the Scottish people chose that’s what they wanted and there was agreement in the Labour party then that would be for them to determine it."
However, Smith added: "I think Scotland is much better off within the UK. I think Scotland [voted] with a margin of 10% to stay in, and the recent GERS numbers, showing how Scotland benefits from being part of the UK, I think is further illustration of the core point we made during the referendum."
Smith, who backs having a rerun of the referendum on EU membership, said there was a difference between the "lies" told by Leave campaigners earlier this year and pledges made by Labour ahead of 2014's vote that haven't been delivered, such as protecting Scotland's EU membership.
"I think all of those promises [made in 2014] were contingent on Labour being in power, and Labour isn’t in power," said Smith.
"It’s a good illustration of the question the Labour party faces right now – do we want to be in power in order to be able to make good on our promises, or do we want to be perpetually in opposition?"
Scottish Conservative chief whip John Lamont said Smith's comments were further evidence that Labour is in "complete chaos" over its position on Scottish independence, and added that there was "no justification" for a second referendum.
"First Scottish Labour's deputy leader said he would not oppose a second referendum, then the Scottish leader slapped him down, only now for Owen Smith to back him up," said Lamont.
"Labour is in a mess and its lack of leadership on this most vital of issues is letting down thousands of people across Scotland who back our place in the UK and want political parties to stand up for that."
A spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn's leadership campaign, Jeremy For Labour, said: "The Scottish Labour party manifesto was clear that Scottish Labour opposes a second referendum, but fundamentally this is an issue for the Scottish parliament and not Owen Smith to decide."