Ed Miliband will visit Scotland on Wednesday as part of his continuing campaign for the Labour leadership.

The UK shadow energy secretary praised his party’s Holyrood boss Iain Gray ahead of his visit to the Scottish Parliament. As he prepared to meet Labout MSPs and activists north of the border, Mr Miliband described Mr Gray's leadership of Scottish Labour as “exemplary”. And he said party officials elsewhere could learn "valuable lessons" from Labour's achievements in Scotland.

Mr Miliband said: "Iain's leadership of Scottish Labour has been exemplary, and I look forward to working with him as he leads the party into the important Holyrood elections."

The Doncaster North MP is one of five politicians in the race to succeed Gordon Brown.

His older brother, former foreign secretary David Miliband, is running and is the bookmakers' favourite. Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham is also in the race and the pair made separate trips north earlier this month.

Former schools secretary Ed Balls and backbencher Diane Abbott are also standing.

Mr Miliband said: "Labour across the whole of the UK can learn valuable lessons from what Scottish Labour have achieved.

"Elsewhere, I think we lost votes because people didn't seem to know what we stood for but in Scotland, Labour's values shone through and we maintained our connection with the Scottish people."

Mr Miliband recently condemned UK Government plans to relocate unemployed people to other areas of the country as "disgraceful".

And on Tuesday, he called for every worker to be entitled to flexible hours.

He said: "To have the support of so many well-respected MSPs has been a real boost to my campaign to lead our party.

"And of course, I'm looking forward to speaking with members and staff at the Scottish Parliament."