Alexander's brother defends party

Douglas Alexander - a long wait for devolution

Labour minister Douglas Alexander has sought to shrug off leaked e-mail criticisms of the party by his MSP sister Wendy.

Mr Alexander's comments came after Ms Alexander, the former Scottish Enterprise Minister accused the Labour Party in Scotland of lacking ideas.

Mr Alexander, Cabinet Office Minister and MP for Paisley South, told BBC Radio Scotland that he had not seen the leaked e-mail from his sister to fomer Scottish National Party deputy Jim Sillars.

He went on to defend Scottish Labour's record in areas such as health, education and land reform.

"We waited too long for a Scottish Parliament," said Mr Alexander.

Wendy Alexander: e-mail security probe

"I am delighted and proud that it's a Labour-led executive that is making that difference in Scotland."

Speaking at the Labour Party Conference in Blackpool, Mr Alexander also defended the controverisal Private Finance Initiative.

He said every PFI project is compared against a public sector comparative on a value for money basis.

He denied that future generations would be the ones footing the bill for current projects.

Mr Alexander said: "Now is the time to build the schools and hospitals that the people of Scotland deserve."

"Dirty tricks"

An investigation has been continuing after Ms Alexander voiced fears that her Scottish Parliament computer may have been tampered with.

Both she and Mr Sillars have denied sending the letter to the Scottish Sun newspaper and believe someone inside parliament had access to her e-mails.

Mr Sillars said: "It wasn't Wendy Alexander who leaked it, and it wasn't me. It's obviously part of a dirty tricks campaign against this particular young woman."