SNP’s time in power at Holyrood running out, Anas Sarwar insists

Anas Sarwar has told the SNP their time in charge at Holyrood is “running out” as he insisted his party will defy the polls to win next year’s Scottish election.

The Scottish Labour leader warned the campaign will be dominated by the “gutter politics and bile of Reform” and the “cheap and cynical politics of the SNP”.

But Mr Sarwar said his party could beat both Nigel Farage and John Swinney to take power in May.

His comments came despite polls still placing Labour behind the SNP in Scotland, with Mr Swinney’s party currently forecast to win a record fifth successive Holyrood vote.

Mr Sarwar spoke of his ambition to replace the current First Minister and “have a new occupant in Bute House”.

He told supporters at the Labour conference in Liverpool his party has “defied the odds and proven the pollsters wrong before, and we will do it again”

Referring to the 2024 general election where Labour won 37 seats north of the border to the SNP’s nine, Mr Sarwar said: “They said we couldn’t win in Scotland last year. We did.”

He said despite being told Labour “couldn’t win” the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, the party had done so, taking the seat from the SNP.

“We are going to do the same again next year,” Mr Sarwar insisted.

His comments came as he attacked Mr Farage and his Reform party – who some polls have suggested could be the second largest party in Holyrood after May’s election.

There were cheers from the conference audience when he branded the Reform UK leader a “pathetic and poisonous little man that doesn’t care about Scotland”, insisting that voters would “utterly reject” him and his party next year.

“All Reform can do is create noise that risks keeping the failing SNP in power,” he said.

While he hit out at Mr Farage and Reform much of the Scottish Labour leader’s speech was focused on attacking the SNP – with Mr Sarwar claiming Scotland is “being held back by an SNP government that looks for excuses not solutions”.

But speaking about the SNP he insisted: “Their time is running out.

“They are now the past – we are the future.”

To win the election he said Labour has to show it is the “only party that can deliver the new direction Scotland needs”.

His comments came as he attacked the record of the SNP, who have been in power at Holyrood since 2007.

Mr Sarwar said there was little to show for the “record funding” Holyrood ministers have received from the UK Government.

“Despite record funding, the reality is when Scots need our NHS, too often it is not there and they are let down.

“The brutal truth is that Scotland’s NHS won’t survive a third decade of John Swinney and this knackered and out-of-touch SNP Government.”

The Scottish Labour leader added this was “characteristic of an SNP Government that cannot be trusted with your money”.

Highlighting issues such as the rise in violent crime, “falling educational standards” and homelessness, Mr Sarwar continued: “Scots are paying more and more but they are getting less and less from the SNP.

“We need to stop the SNP embezzling opportunities from Scots with their incompetence.”

SNP depute Leader Keith Brown said: “Anas Sarwar cannot distance himself from the Labour Party’s abysmal failure in Government and the constant scandals, sleaze and chaos engulfing Keir Starmer’s party.

“Voters were promised change but, under Starmer, the UK has gone from bad to worse.

“The cost of living is soaring, unemployment is at a four-year high, the UK economy has been downgraded, public finances have deteriorated, child poverty is at record levels – and families are struggling to get by as energy bills, food prices and inflation rise.”

The SNP MSP added: “Mr Sarwar is just another Westminster branch manager.

“He tied himself to Keir Starmer, rolled over on every damaging decision, and now he is sinking on Starmer’s ship – slumping into third place behind the Reform Party in Scotland.”