The head of Scotland's unionist Labour party has challenged Nationalist leader Alex Salmond to "bring on" a referendum on independence in a u-turn after Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered heavy losses in local elections in England and Wales.

Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander, who had opposed a referendum along with Conservative and Liberal Democratic parties, told BBC Scotland on Sunday: "I don't fear the verdict of the Scottish people. Bring it on."

The pro-independence Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) formed a minority government after Scottish elections last year with a one-seat win over Labour, breaking decades of Labour hold on the country which has also provided key backing for the national party in Westminster.

Alexander said the SNP "appear to be toying with the electorate, saying 'we want this (independence), it is the reason we came into politics, but by the way we are frightened to bring the matter forwards'."

Salmond, Scotland's First Minister, told Reuters in a weekend interview that the SNP would press ahead with legislation in 2010 to hold a referendum on independence after a two-year-long national dialogue.

Support for Scottish independence after 300 years of political union with England varies from poll to poll. A YouGov poll in Saturday's Times newspaper gave a figure of 19 percent, while other analysts have put it at up to one third in the nation of just over five million people.

The SNP said at the weekend its own poll-of-polls showed 41 percent supported independence, 40 percent opposed it and 30 percent were undecided.

Alexander said there had been "tactical discussion" with Labour leaders in London on the referendum issue. The Times said it was understood Brown now saw a referendum as the best way to weaken Salmond's grip on power in Scotland.

A Labour-led government ruled in Edinburgh for two terms from the opening of the first devolved parliament in 1999, but the SNP have had a one-seat advantage over second placed Labour in the 129-seat legislature since May last year.

Labour lost heavily in local elections in England and Wales last Thursday, and was beaten into third place in the overall vote behind the leading Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.

Some political analysts say Brown, who represents a Scottish constituency, can ill afford any loss of seats in Scotland in a future nationwide election.