Being straight with public on economy will help at election, says Sarwar

Being honest with the public on the economy will benefit Labour at the Holyrood election in 18 months, the party’s leader has said.

Anas Sarwar has been criticised for saying there would be no austerity under a Labour Government, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced plans for cuts to fill a £22 billion financial black hole.

But Mr Sarwar claimed the announcement was not a return to austerity, which he had emphatically ruled out during the General Election campaign.

The Chancellor claimed the scale of the financial problems had been kept hidden by the previous government, with the Scottish leader suggesting being up front with the people of Scotland could stand them in good stead for a win in 2026.

“I actually think being honest and straight with the public is going to help our chances, not hinder our chances,” he told the PA news agency during a visit to a community project in Easterhouse, Glasgow, on Thursday.

“I think what the public have seen for the last 14 years across the UK with the Tories and for the last 17 years here in Scotland with the SNP, is they’ve seen two governments make big promises and break them, break the public trust.

“They’ve seen our politics degraded by this kind of politics we’ve seen from both the SNP and the Tories.”

With a Labour Government in Downing Street, Mr Sarwar said, the public can see the “grown-ups are back in charge” and are “getting on with fixing the mess”.

“But we’ve still got a second part of change to deliver in 2026, where we stop the economic incompetence of the SNP and we get on with fixing the fundamentals here in Scotland as well,” he said.

“That’s a challenge I relish.”

But senior SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson said: “In a matter of weeks the Labour Party has broken a number of the promises it made to Scottish voters by spearheading a return to austerity.

“The SNP has always been honest about the cuts that are coming under Labour; with our warnings during the election campaign derided as scaremongering by Anas Sarwar.

“Now the Labour Government’s feigned surprise at the state of the public finances is being used as cover for a fresh round of cuts to public services and support for the most vulnerable.”

Scottish Tory chairman Craig Hoy said: “Anas Sarwar has some nerve talking about trust when the Labour Government has already broken a pre-election promise by ditching the universal winter fuel payment after less than a month in office.

“That betrayal will not be forgotten by millions of pensioners who will suffer as a result.”