Sarwar reveals he has not spoken to PM since the week he called on him to quit

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar revealed he has not spoken directly to Sir Keir Starmer since the week he called on him to quit as Prime Minister.

Mr Sarwar said he spoke to the UK Labour leader “a couple of times that week”.

But he told Sky News: “I’ve not spoken to him since that  week.”

Mr Sarwar, however, said he was still in “regular communication” with the Prime Minister, whom he accepted was “angry” when he told him he was going to call for his resignation.

Mr Sarwar used a hastily convened press conference in Glasgow on February 9 to urge the Prime Minister to step down, saying he did not want “failures at the heart of Downing Street” to distract from his bid to win May’s Holyrood election.

Speaking to Beth Rigby with 50 days to go until the election, Mr Sarwar said he had been “very open about saying that we have the unpopular UK Labour government and we have an unpopular UK Prime Minister”.

Recalling his call to Sir Keir ahead of the press conference, the Scottish Labour leader added: “Of course, he was going to be angry.”

But Mr Sarwar insisted: “I think, in fairness to him and to other members of the cabinet, that hasn’t meant the dialogue has stopped.

“We still have very positive conversations about what’s right for Scotland and how we can make sure a UK Labour Government is delivering for Scotland.”

He refused to say if he would campaign with the Prime Minister in the run-up to the Holyrood vote on May 7, with Mr Sarwar declaring: “I’m leading the campaign. I’m the candidate for first minister.”

Mr Sarwar added: “I think the Prime Minister has better things to do than be chapping doors during an election campaign.”

Instead, he said Sir Keir “needs to focus on doing his job and demonstrating he’s delivering for Scotland” – adding afterwards that if he “has announcements to make that demonstrate delivery for Scotland” he “should be here making those announcements”.

Mr Sarwar insisted however: “I’ll be leading this campaign from the front because I’m the candidate for first minister.

“It’s me versus John Swinney. Keir Starmer is not standing to be first minister.”

While Labour is behind Mr Swinney’s SNP in the polls in the run-up to May 7, Mr Sarwar also said: “I’m going to win the election and I’m going to change this country, I genuinely believe that.”