Forming the next Scottish Government is within the reach of Scottish Labour, according to the party's interim leader.

Alex Rowley made the claim as he addressed delegates at his party's conference in Brighton on Monday.

Rowley, who represents Mid Scotland and Fife in Holyrood, is chairing the party while it elects a new leader following Kezia Dugdale's resignation.

He told delegates: "Being a strong opposition should never be enough.

"Our aim must be to win the next election in Scotland."

Later in his speech, Rowley said: "Changing our country has to start with changing the government.

"The election result in June has energised us and shown that the chance to serve again in government - in Westminster and Holyrood - is within our reach."

Elections to Holyrood are not scheduled to take place until 2021.

At the last devolved poll, Scottish Labour slumped to third place behind the SNP and the Conservatives, a historic low for the party.

In response to Rowley, SNP MSP James Dornan said: "The only aspiration Scottish Labour have right now is to find a leader who won't leave them in the lurch.

"With interminable, bitter squabbling between its leadership candidates, Labour in Scotland seems closer to the brink of further chaos than it is to finding a way out of the political abyss.

"While Labour are finally getting behind the SNP's plans to halt a post-Brexit Tory power grab, they must go further by backing our future in the single market and the Scottish jobs that depend on it."

The interim leader also praised Jeremy Corbyn for giving those who supported independence in 2014 a "real hope of an alternative" as he has shown the public "real change is possible inside the UK".

Labour's conference in Brighton continues until Wednesday.