Labour's National Executive Committee (NEC) has backed plans to hand greater autonomy to Scottish Labour.

Kezia Dugdale attended a meeting of the NEC on Tuesday, where it backed plans to make Scottish Labour "fully autonomous within the UK Labour Party."

The proposals will be put to Labour's national conference in Liverpool, which begins this weekend.

If approved, the changes will mean Scottish Labour will have full control over policy making, including in reserved areas, and will see the creation of a new Scottish Executive Committee (SEC) which will manage the party's local Scottish branches.

Ms Dugdale said: "I'm pleased to say that we have the agreement of Labour's NEC for our autonomy proposals.

"These will be the biggest changes we've seen to how the Scottish Labour Party is run in a generation. It means Scottish Labour is now on track to become fully autonomous within the UK Labour Party.

"I'm looking forward to making these arguments at the UK conference next week, and hopefully seeing the proposals passed by delegates.

"It is right that as devolution strengthens across the UK that Scottish Labour changes to reflect that. Today we took an important step in achieving that."

The SEC will also oversee the selection of UK parliamentary candidates, and further changes mean a Scottish Labour MSP will represent the party on the NEC.

Jeremy Corbyn endorsed the plans in a joint statement released with Dugdale in October last year.

The current leadership contest for for control of the UK party has seen several Scottish Labour members suspended or expelled.

The NEC will meet again on Saturday after the result of the party's leadership elect is announced to consider proposals to change how the party selects its shadow cabinet.

The body failed to come to an agreement on the plans after more than eight hours of talks.