I think we lost support because people thought Labour weren’t even on the pitch
New leader says second place is possible.. and why voters need an alternative to Union Flag-waving, chest-beating unionism and Saltire-waving, ‘referendum now’ nationalism
NEWLY elected Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has accused the Tories of “chestbeating unionism” and vowed to take on the SNP to win back lost voters.
In an interview with the Record, Sarwar promised to offer an alternative to both the “Saltirewaving” nationalism of the SNP and the “Army tank-driving” image of the Conservatives.
He also called on Nicola Sturgeon to be clearer on dates for easing lockdown and said police officers and teachers should be prioritised for the vaccine.
Sarwar, a Glasgow MSP, defeated colleague Monica Lennon to become Scottish Labour’s 10th leader since devolution.
In a watershed moment f o r Scotland, he is also the first Muslim and BAME leader of a political party.
However, Sarwar is taking over against a backdrop of years of Labour decline north of the border. His party slumped to third place at Holyrood in 2016 and more recent results have been even worse. He has barely two months to turn around Labour’s fortunes before the Scottish Parliament election in May. A common analysis is that the 2014 referendum damaged Scottish Labour, but Sarwar thinks the problems run far deeper. He said: “We lost voters, not just because of the Yes/ No question. I think we lost supporters because people thought Labour weren’t on the pitch.
“We weren’t offering hope and change in a credible way to the country.
“I think they thought we’d vacated the stage and were probably irrelevant to their lives.”
He warned: “I recognise we’ve got a mountain to climb. I think we are fighting for the survival of the Labour Party.”
Determined to make himself heard, Sarwar has taken out a fullpage advert in today’s Record in which he says he is sorry that his party hasn’t been “good enough” and promising to “work day and night to change that”.
He is committed to winning back voters lost to the SNP but he faces a problem – although SNP backers want another referendum, he has ruled out a second vote for the entirety of the next term. Asked if he believes there will be another referendum one day, he said: “There may well be but that’s for the people of Scotland to decide. That’s a fundamental principle.”
He added: “I just don’t think that coming through a pandemic that it’s right or credible for us to go back to those divisions.”
His priority is to make the next term a Covid recovery parliament. To this end, he thinks there is a case for looking at Holyrood having more powers over borrowing, taxation and employment law.
With his party languishing in third, Sarwar is not claiming that Scottish Labour is about to become the largest group at Holyrood.
Reclaiming second place is the target for now and he believes it’s doable. He said: “I do think that it’s possible for us to catch and overtake the Conservatives.
“I am not saying that’s going to be an easy task looking at where we are just now but I think we can and I hope we can use the platform of that to turn ourselves not just from credible opposition but also to credible alternative.”
Coming second means defeating the Tories and he has accused Douglas Ross’s party of “playground politics” during the pandemic.
He said of the inevitable election row between the Tories and the SNP on IndyRef2: “You are going to have the Scottish Conservatives morph into Army tank-driving, Union Flag-waving, chest-beating unionism.
“And you are going to have Nicola
I recognise we’ve got a mountain to climb. I think we are fighting for the survival of the Labour Party
Sturgeon, largely because of the trouble she has in her own political party, looking like the SNP are a Saltire-waving, ‘referendum now, independence now’, nationalist party.”
On the row between Sturgeon and Alex Salmond, which has seen the ex-SNP leader allege a plot against him, Sarwar thinks the First Minister should quit if she has breached the ministerial code of conduct.
He said: “Nicola Sturgeon has called for her fair share of opposition politicians to resign in her time.
“If there was a different party of government, and a different individual in the role, if there was a breach… I am certain that she would be saying that that was not tenable for the person to stay in their post.”
He believes the Holyrood Inquiry has been “thwarted and undermined” from the start.
Asked about the possibility of a judicial inquiry into the botched Scottish Government investigation into Salmond, he said: “I think all options have to be on the table”.
On lockdown easing, Sturgeon was accused of making a statement last week which did not offer enough dates.
Sarwar believes there is a balance to be struck but thinks people are
I am certain that Sturgeon herself would say it was not tenable for a person to stay in their post if there had been a breach
looking for “hope” about when they might be able to be with their loved ones again.
He said: “I think it is OK for us to give some clearer indications on dates but we should obviously keep the proviso that it’s dependent on things progressing the way we’d like them to progress.”
He added: “There is a case to be made for greater support and greater vaccine roll-out among police officers and teachers.”
This is linked to the “cast iron guarantee” he’s offering voters: “Labour under my leadership is going to focus on the issues that matter to them.”
Labour under my leadership is going to focus on the issues that matter to them ANAS SARWAR ON HIS ‘CAST-IRON GUARANTEE’