EXCLUSIVE: The Scottish Labour leader said the election in May is the most “significant” in the country’s history.
Anas Sarwar has accused John Swinney of being a “no energy” First Minister and predicted a “bitter” Holyrood election campaign. He also warned Reform UK would question his loyalty to Scotland and claimed the SNP would do anything to cling to power.
Sarwar spoke out with less than five months to go before voters pick the next Government at Holyrood. Scottish Labour are nearly twenty points behind the SNP in the polls after a troubled start by Keir Starmer’s Government.
Sarwar will make a keynote speech on January 5th in which he will lay out an alternative to a fifth term of SNP rule. In an interview with the Record’s Planet Holyrood podcast, the Scottish Labour leader said:
“I think the campaign needs to start straight away in 2026. It is our opportunity for the first time in almost 20 years to change the government here in Scotland. And what you’re going to see really early is that we are going to unleash the biggest, most significant political campaign in the history of Scotland next year.
“The choice is going to be a third decade of the SNP with John Swinney as First Minister or a different direction for Scotland with me as First Minister.”
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Reform UK, which are second in the polls, used a recent by-election to imply Sarwar, whose family is from Pakistan, would not be loyal to Scotland. He said he expected similar tactics from the anti-immigration party during the Holyrood campaign:
“I think the implication is ‘he’s not one of us, he’s not loyal to here, his loyalties lie somewhere else’. I was born in Scotland, brought up in Glasgow, I went to school in Glasgow, I went to university in Glasgow, I worked in our NHS in Renfrewshire in Paisley.
“I have been in public life for almost 20 years. I have dedicated all my adult life to service in public duty, whether that was working in the NHS or being in politics as a parliamentarian. I believe there is no greater country than Scotland. It has given my family everything.”
He said: “The reason why I think it’s going to be a bitter campaign is, one, the poison of Reform is going to add a different layer of complexity to the election campaign and an SNP government that’s been in power for 20 years is going to try and play every card they can to try and keep a hold of power.”
He said the frame of the election is Scotland’s future, not the performance of the UK Government:
“People have very strong views on a UK Labour Government. They have very strong views of senior figures in a UK Labour government.
“But what they’re voting for in 2026 is not to send a message to Westminster. What they’re not voting for is to change a UK Labour Government.
“What the election in 2026 is about our schools, it’s about our hospitals, it’s about our care homes, it’s about our policing, it’s about our local funding, it’s about our housing system, it’s about our transport system. “
He said the SNP Government and Swinney are determined to “disrespect” Scots by making the devolved election about Westminster.
He said: “The SNP want to shout at us and say ‘he’s a unionist politician’. I’m the person that wants to make the election about Scotland. John Swinney, the nationalist politician, is the one that wants to make the election about Britain.”
Sarwar also rounded on Swinney, who has been a parliamentarian since 1997, by claiming he does not have the drive for the job:
“What we need is a new generation of leadership. We need a different level of energy and we need someone with a different level of ambition.”
He added: “I think he’s ‘no energy’ rather than low energy.
“He’s had his chance. He’s had his time. Thank you for the service, but it’s time for the next generation.”
SNP MSP Keith Brown said: “Under John Swinney’s leadership, NHS waiting times in Scotland are falling, GP numbers are rising, we’re seeing record numbers of hip and knee operations, child poverty is falling while it rises across the UK, and unemployment is lower than it is south of the border.
“The SNP is focussed on making Scotland a better place to live. By contrast, Anas Sarwar has had five years to come up with a vision for Scotland’s future but he has nothing to offer except broken Labour promises and immature personal insults. It’s no wonder Labour is fighting it out for third place with Nigel Farage.”
