ANAS Sarwar has promised he would take Scotland in a “new direction” as he blasted the Nats for 18 years of taking the country in the “wrong direction”.
The Scottish Labour leader used his keynote speech at his party’s annual conference in Glasgow’s SEC today to outline a flurry of policy pledges, including a ban on mobile phones in classrooms.
Anas Sarwar has set out his pledges in a bid to win the next Holyrood election[/caption]
The Scottish Labour leader has promised to set up a watchdog to highlight wasted taxpayers’ cash, axe peak rail fares, end rough sleeping, and ban mobiles in classrooms[/caption]
Mr Sarwar has called on First Minister John Swinney to “step aside”[/caption]
Mr Sarwar is setting his sights on next year’s Holyrood election[/caption]
And he urged John Swinney to “step aside” as the Scottish Labour leader insisted he would “defy the odds” and win the 2026 Holyrood election.
The party chief also sought to gloss over the troubled first months of Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street by focusing on the failures of the SNP.
And as he sought to set out his vision as a future First Minister, Mr Sarwar outlined key promises ahead of next year’s vote.
They included:
– Setting up a Department of Government Efficiency to tackle waste of taxpayer cash
– End the 8am rush for on-the-day GP appointments
– Giving Glasgow and Edinburgh regional mayors similar to those in Manchester and Birmingham
– Scrapping peak rail fares
– End rough sleeping on Scotland’s streets
In a 50-minute speech at the Scottish Event Campus, Mr Sarwar attempted to set out his vision as he told Scots he was “submitting my application to be the next First Minister of Scotland”.
And he urged voters to abandon the SNP and back him at the next Holyrood election – despite recent polling putting his party 17 points behind the Nats.
Such a result would be Scottish Labour’s worst in the history of devolution and is a major reverse from before last year’s General Election when the party was level-pegging with the SNP.
But Mr Sarwar – who was congratulated and embraced by his wife Furheen after the speech – insisted Scottish Labour is “on the pitch”.
He added: “I am determined that we will defy the odds again and that we will win the election in 2026.
“Whether it’s in our NHS, our economy, or our schools the SNP is taking Scotland in the wrong direction.
“We will set out what a new direction in May 2026 will mean for you, your family, your community and our country.
“I am submitting my application to be the next First Minister of Scotland.”
Slamming the SNP for 18 years of failures, Mr Sarwar insisted the Nats time was up and urged voters to give his party their trust.
Mr Sarwar also blasted John Swinney and labelled him a “back-to-the-future” leader as he urged John Swinney to “step aside”.
He said: “After nearly two decades in power, they’ve had their chance.
“If they were going to fix the problems, they would have done it by now.”
Mr Sarwar added: “You can’t fix the problem, so move aside because as First Minister I will.
“As First Minister the buck would stop with me and my ministers. No more passing the blame – no more shirking responsibility.”
The Scottish Labour leader also used his speech to set out brand new policies ahead of next year’s elections in a bid to differentiate the party from the Nats.
Among the announcements included a commitment to end rough sleeping, which insiders said would be based on policies in Greater Manchester.
This would see extra beds provided in major cities to give every person sleeping on the streets an option of a warm bed – alongside “wrap-around” mental health support.
Adding that 242 Scots died last year while sleeping rough, in what he branded a “damning indictment on Government failure”, he added: “As first minister I will end rough sleeping in Scotland once and for all.”
Mr Sarwar also took aim at the rise in violent behaviour in schools and promised he would ban mobile phones in classrooms if he enters Bute House in May next year.
The move comes after SNP education secretary Jenny Gilruth was accused of passing the buck by saying it was up to individual headteachers whether to ban phones in schools.
Mr Sarwar said: “More and more pupils are feeling unsafe in our classrooms.
“The mental health of our young people is being undermined – with catastrophic results. This has to end.
“That’s why, as First Minister, I will ban mobile phones in classrooms and make schools safe, calm places for learning again.”
The Scottish Labour leader also aped plans from Twitter/X tycoon Elon Musk and Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay to target wasteful government spending as part of a pledge to set up a Scottish department of government efficiency.
This, he said, would see every penny of the Scottish Government’s spending tested for value for money amid a crackdown on waste.
Mr Sarwar said: “That value for money will extend to every part of government because right now Scots are paying more and more to serve the ever-expanding machinery of government.
“And they are getting less and less from public services.”
It is understood the party’s finance spokesman, Michael Marra, will lead the efforts and outline the plans in more detail tomorrow.
Mr Sarwar also repeated his promise to reduce the number of health boards in Scotland from 14 to three and said he would focus on increasing the number of nurses amid a war on “penpushers”.
Blasting the number of managers in the NHS, he said: “As First Minister I will make sure your money is spent on the nurses and doctors, not the bureaucrats and the penpushers.”
And echoing John Swinney’s pledge to end child poverty, Mr Sarwar promised he would use “all the powers at Scotland’s disposal to end poverty.”
But Scottish Tory deputy leader Rachael Hamilton attacked the Scottish Labour leader and said voters could not “trust a word” of the speech.
She said: “Labour have broken so many promises since the General Election that who could trust a word Anas Sarwar says.
“They promised not to axe winter fuel payments for pensioners or not to hike National Insurance, but Keir Starmer did it anyway, so Scots simply won’t believe him.”
And Nats depute leader Keith Brown blasted the lack of a mention of the row over 400 lost jobs at Grangemouth, with Mr Sarwar having promised Labour would step in and “save the jobs” at the refinery.
The SNP MSP said: “His speech would have benefitted from an apology for the litany of broken promises he and Keir Starmer used to get elected.
“Labour under Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer are in complete disarray – breaking promise after promise and seeing their support plummet.”
