Sir David Steel has expressed "dismay" at Labour's stranglehold on power in Scottish local government.

In a BBC Newsnight Scotland interview, the Scottish Parliament's presiding officer said it was unhealthy to have "political monocultures".

The Labour Party, especially in the west of Scotland, has controlled some council chambers for decades without challenge.

Sir David, a Lothians MSP, said that as an east of Scotland politician he had watched the mono-party culture in the west of the country with dismay.

Sir David told MSPs to curb the carping

The former leader of the Liberal Democrats said the parliament's multi-party system, which incorporates an element of proportional representation, was better.

As presiding officer Sir David must maintain neutrality on party political issues but he said the parliament had the advantage of a wide spread of parties and a coalition government.

He said: "You have got four parties of size and two smaller ones as well, and I think multi-partyism is a good thing.

Party loyalty

"I think people should have wider choices and the kind of mono-culture in politics is never healthy."

In a wide-ranging interview, Sir David also suggested that MSPs were too loyal to their respective parties.

"I think you will find, as we get into the second parliament, that there will be a greater independence on the backbenches," Sir David said.

"I think everyone was pretty nervous about coming into the new institution.

'Burning injustice'

"There has, maybe, been an excessive outbreak of loyalty among the backbenchers rather than they are there to a job independent of the executive."

He also accused politicians of failing to tackle what he called the "burning injustice" of inequality with conviction.

He said: "The underclass developing in Scotland is really not being tackled with sufficient determination and motivation by the political class.

"Speeches are made about it and so on but I think there is a really burning injustice in our society which we are tending to ignore."

Sir David said he was impressed with the standards of debate in the parliament, though he would like to see a more diverse intake of MSPs in the next term.