Scottish Labour ‘fighting for their lives’ in next election, says new boss

Scottish Labour's newly elected leader has said the party is "fighting for their lives" in May's Holyrood election.

Anas Sarwar, who won the post on Saturday with more than 57 per cent of the vote, said he recognised the party has a "mountain to climb" to win back the trust of voters that made them the ruling party in the early years of devolution.

However, the party now sits third in the polls, lagging well behind the Tories in second place, with the SNP enjoying a nearly 30 per cent lead in both constituency and regional votes, according to an Ipsos Mori poll for STV this week.

Speaking to Times Radio on Sunday,mrsarwarsaid:"you've had political leaders come on before and think they've got to act macho and spread their shoulders and claim that we're on the cusp of a Labour government or a Labour first minister.

"I'm not going to do that, I'm goingtobehonestandsaywe're in a really bad place."

He added: "The most recent pollhaduson14percent,ithink we're fighting for our survi val, I think we're fighting for relevance in Scotland, I think we're fighting to be a credible opposition. I hope that having got ourselves back on the pitch and off our knees we can build the five years that follow to make ourselves not just a credible opposition,butacrediblealternative sowecanhavealabourgovernment in the future."

Speaking earlier on the BBC'S Sunday Show Mr Sarwar laid out what he thinks the party has done wrong, saying: "We haven't been on the pitch.

"Forgetaboutdoingthewrong moves on the pitch, playing the wrong passes or having one misplacedshot,wehaven'tbeen on the pitch in recent times and that is not acceptable."