I’LL TAKE ON STURGEON IN HER OWN SEAT
Historic election pledge as party leaders go head to head
New scottish labour leader Anas sarwar has revealed he will launch a campaign to win Nicola sturgeon’s constituency in may’s Holyrood elections.
He wants to oust the SNP First Minister from Glasgow Southside. Sarwar said: “It may well be her constituency but it’s my home. It’s where I bring up my children.”
It will be the first time in British politics two major party leaders have contested the same seat.
Scottish Labour’s new leader is launching a bold bid to oust Nicola Sturgeon from her own constituency.
Anas Sarwar has vowed to put his embattled party back on the map by challenging the First Minister in Glasgow Southside at the Holyrood election in May.
It will be the first time in British politics two major party leaders have contested the same seat.
Undeterred by Sturgeon’s near 10,000 majority, Sarwar said: “It may well be her constituency but it’s my home.
“I was brought up on the south side of Glasgow, I live here and it’s where I bring up my children.
“It’s the most vibrant, most diverse part of the whole of Scotland, it’s part of who I am.
“I’m not doing this because I think it’s brave, I’m doing it because I believe in it.
“I know it’s a big task but I don’t want to be parachuted in as a candidate somewhere else.
“I want to start in my home, stand in the heart of my community and persuade the people who live around me that they can believe in Labour again – that we can have a functioning party again.
“I believe I can rebuild on the south side of Glasgow with the same message of hope and optimism for the future that will help us rebuild across Scotland.”
Sarwar, 37, beat fellow MSP
Monica Lennon to become Scottish Labour leader last month after Richard Leonard stood down in January.
Support for the party has sharply declined after voters turned to the SNP in droves.
Labour dominated every Westminster election from 1964 to 2010 in Scotland and the first two terms of the Scott ish Parliament in 1999 and 2003.
But it was humiliated at the general election in 2015 after being left with just one seat north of the Border. The decline continued at Holyrood in 2016 when 13 of its 37 seats were lost. Sarwar’s dad
Mohammad became the f irst Muslim MP in the UK when he beat a young Nicola Sturgeon to take Glasgow Govan in the 1997 general election.
Walking down Govanhill ’s Victoria Road in the heart of the constituency he wants to grab from the First Minister, Sarwar is quietly confident about the future.
The dad of three added: “Nicola Sturgeon is a skilled and able political communicator, it would be foolish to claim anything less. You expect the SNP to be the biggest party in May.
“But I think that even pre-Covid she has had her eye off the ball in terms of people’s priorities in the south side of Glasgow and Scotland as a whole.
“She’s had a one-track mind in terms of pursuing her priorities rather than those of constituents.
“In this area, you have huge issues around housing, safety and security, homelessness, mental health, drugs, youth unemployment, health and social care. I think that these are the things Nicola Sturgeon has been distracted from.
“Neither the Tories or the SNP wi l l deliver a recovery from
Covid-19 that works for everyone, it is not in their DNA.
“We can’t expect Nicola Sturgeon to put the recovery first because she’s obsessed with the timing of another independence referendum.
“I want to focus on what brings us together rather than what divides us. I think people want to be brought together and I really believe that Labour is now ready to rise up and regain the trust and support of the country.”
Sarwar and Sturgeon have passed-up the opportunity to take
I’m not doing it because I think it’s brave.. I believe in it
their party’s top spot on regional lists for Holyrood, meaning both run the risk of being ejected from the Scottish Parliament should they lose the constituency battle.
Former NHS dentist Sarwar has been criticised over his family’s wealth and decision to privately educate his children.
However, he is anything but the aloof millionaire and makes an easy connection with dozens of people who congratulate him on becoming party leader, as he strolls through the constituency with the Sunday Mail on Friday. Saeed
Akhtar, a 52-year-old dad of two, who runs Ramsay’s Halal fish and chip shop on Victoria Road, said: “I’ll, of course, be voting for Anas, I’ve known his family for years.
“We need someone who’s looking out for the small business owners, someone who will make sure the bins get emptied, someone who will make sure the schools are funded properly.”
The most significant point of difference between Sarwar and Lennon during the leadership battle was their stance on the constitution. While Lennon argued it should be for the Scottish Parliament to decide whether to hold a second independence referendum, Sarwar has adopted a more Unionist stance.
He said: “People like to present this as some kind of hard Unionist versus hard Nationalist contest.
“I just don’t view it in that way. I honestly don’t think even Nicola Sturgeon would be arguing for a referendum right now if she wasn’t trying to heal the wounds in her own party.
“I think the idea of coming through Covid-19 and going into an independence campaign i s absolut el y ludicrous , frankly. People aren’t worried about the date of a referendum.
“They’re worried about keeping themselves safe, when they’re going to get a vaccine, whether the’re going to have a job.
“Educat i o n , c a nce l l ed operations, the failure to get a cancer diagnosis – these are things that I think people are really worried about.”
His position is in line with UK Labour leader Keir Starmer’s refusal to support calls for the Scottish Parliament to decide the timing of a second referendum.
But it is one which will be hard to sell to many independence
supporting young voters who have abandoned Labour in Scotland.
Sarwar spoke to students Findlay Mackay, 18, and Matilda Raid, 19, as they bought ice cream at Queen’s Cafe.
While Matilda, originally from Belfast, said she would consider voting Scottish Labour in May, Findlay would only commit to giving the party his second vote due to his support for an independent Scotland.
Sarwar’s dad – who built up the family’s cash and carry business from nothing – was a councillor in Pollokshields before becoming MP for Govan.
He now lives in Pakistan with wife Perveen, where he is governor of Punjab.
Sarwar added: “In 1997, he was up against a young whippersnapper Nicola Sturgeon – I imagine it must be quite a funny feeling for her to have been in politics with two generations of Sarwars.
“Dad won that contest but I accept this one is going to be tougher to pull off.
“My mum and dad are really proud – given their own journey with the Labour Party and the challenges, to put it mildly, that my dad had at the start of his political career, to go from that to where we are now is quite a contrast.”