Sarwar pledges rebuild as Labour’s new Scottish leader
ANAS SARWAR was yesterday elected Scottish Labour leader, pledging in his victory speech to “rebuild our party so we have the opportunity to rebuild Scotland”.
Winning a snap leadership election 10 weeks before May’s Holyrood election, Mr Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, beat his only rival candidate, Monica Lennon, by getting 57.6 per cent of the vote.
The contest was announced following the resignation of Richard Leonard, the previous Scottish Labour leader, in January. Mr Sarwar, described as the first Muslim leader of a major political party in the UK, now faces the task of rebuilding a party running third in polls ahead of the Holyrood election. In his victory speech, he called his win the “greatest honour of my life”.
He said: “Today we have elected the first-ever ethnic minority leader of a political party in the UK. That doesn’t say something about me.
“That says something great about Scotland and its people. But the fight for equality is far from over. I’ll work with all our diverse communities in Scotland to rebuild the country we love.”
‘I’m sorry we haven’t been good enough. I will work to change that so we can build a country we all need’
Mr Sarwar became the fifth leader of Scottish Labour, seen by many as a divided party, to hold the position since 2014.
He has rejected calls for a new referendum on Scottish independence.
“I know Labour has a lot of work to do to win back your trust, because if we’re brutally honest, you haven’t had the Scottish Labour party you deserve,” he said.
“With rising injustice, inequality and division, I’m sorry we haven’t been good enough, and I will work day and night to change that, so we can build a country we all need.”
UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said of Mr Sarwar: “Under his leadership, Scottish Labour will focus on what unites us, not what divides us.
“I know Anas will do the hard work that is necessary to win back the trust of the Scottish people and build for the future as we emerge from this pandemic.”
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, tweeted congratulations to Mr Sarwar. “He (and his dad before him) and I are long-time political opponents, but I also like and rate him,” she wrote.
Mr Sarwar’s father Mohammad became the first Muslim MP in the UK in 1997 when he was elected to represent Glasgow Govan.