Scottish Labour leader denies deceiving voters
Anas Sarwar said it was “frankly ridiculous” to suggest Scottish Labour had entered coalitions in all but name as Nicola Sturgeon says he “would be better owning it”.
The Scottish Labour leader denied during a trip tohe was playing “a game of semantics”, saying he made it “absolutely clear” there will be no formal coalitions with the SNP and Tories.
However, the First Minister has said the denial makes the Labour leader “seem shifty” and “gives the impression he thinks voters are daft ”. previously, both Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Sarwar said Labour would not form any coalitions with any party on a local and national level.
Areas such as Fife, South Lanarkshire and Stirling have seen minority labour administrations formed due to support from the conservatives, liberal Democrats and Independents.
In Fife, the SNP has accused Labour of “trampling on democracy” after the party took control despite winning just 20 seats, compared to the snp’ s 34.
The SNP criticised Labour for doing “backhand deals” with the Tories, with SNP MSP Clare Haughey tweeting: “Vote Labour, get Tories.”
The Labour leader said the “bleating” from the SNP over Labour’ s minority administration s showed“their sheer arrogance”. he said th es np“need to get over the fact they don’t rule all parts of Scotland”.
In South Lanarkshire, Labour was able to take control of the council with thanks to the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives – despite the SNP getting the most votes in the area.
Mr Sarwar defended his stance on no coalitions, saying it was important to find agreement between individual political parties on certain issues that “work for the benefit of local communities”.
Asked by The Scotsman if he misled voters on coalitions through a game of semantics, Mr Sarwar said: “It’s not a game of semantics at all. I was clear before the elections – no coalitions with the SNP and the Tories.
"I made it very clear we would seek to elect as many Labour councillors as possible, I made it very clear we would seek to form Labour minority administrations and that we would seek on individual issues to work with individual councillor sand individual political parties on issues of agreement over the course of the next five years.