Labour revival 'only half-written' in Scotland - Sarwar

Anas Sarwar speaking at the Labour party conference in Liverpool.

Labour's revival is still "only half-written" despite their UK general election victory, the party's Scottish leader has said.

Anas Sarwar told the party's conference in Liverpool that Labour needed to "finish the job" by succeeding in the 2026 Holyrood election and bring "fresh leadership and new ideas" for Scotland.

Sarwar also said that Labour would not returning the country to austerity, despite the controversial policy to scrap the winter fuel payment for all pensioners.

Scottish secretary Ian Murray also said that the party could take "nothing for granted" when it comes to votes at Holyrood in 2026.

Labour have not held power at Holyrood since 2007, but the party is targeting victory in two years time, despite currently having 22 seats - behind the SNP and Conservatives.

In July it took 37 Scottish seats at the Westminster election, having only held one seat in the country beforehand.

Incompetent government

During his speech, Sarwar attacked the SNP on several occasions and claimed it was "time to turn the page on division and decline".

He said: "There is no Labour without Scotland. But the truth is that the story of Labour’s revival is only half-written.

"For lots of you, there was only one incompetent government to get rid of, but in Scotland we were stuck with two.

"So at the general election, we got rid of one incompetent government, and at 2026 we finish the job and get rid of the other one."

Sarwar, who referred to Scottish Labour as "the party of change and hope", said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer "cares about Scotland" and that Scots were being "left to pay the price of nearly two decades of SNP failure" through raised taxes.

He added that a "decade of national renewal" for the country would be achieved through the country becoming a "world-leader in green technology".

He said the NHS would be improved by "transferring power away from managers and towards doctors and nurses".

Ian Murray said there would be no return to austerity under Labour

Earlier Ian Murray had vowed to lift people out of poverty and that Scotland "will have a bright industrial future which guarantees jobs".

Both Murray and Sarwar also defended going to a football game as guests of Salmon Scotland in Liverpool over the weekend.

The duo attended Liverpool' 3-0 victory over Bournemouth on Saturday, and a party spokesperson said the visit would be declared "in the usual way" on their register of interests.

Th trip came as other party figures - including Sir Keir Starmer - were criticised over their acceptance of gifts.

SNP deputy leader Keith Brown said Labour was "inflicting billions of pounds of cuts on Scotland while lining their own pockets with donations and freebies”.

He added: “The only person Scottish Labour is delivering for is Keir Starmer.

"Meanwhile Labour is cutting winter fuel payments for over 800,000 pensioners, pushing over 87,000 children into poverty by failing to scrap the two child limit and hammering Scotland’s public services by continuing Westminster austerity cuts.

“It’s no wonder the Labour Party is collapsing in the polls as voters can see they are simply picking up where the Tories left off."

The Scottish Conservatives claimed that you could "barely stick a cigarette paper" between Labour and the SNP on policy.

The party's chairman Craig Hoy said: “While the SNP have done untold damage to Scotland over the last 17 years, the idea that Scottish Labour would represent change is for the birds.

“You can barely stick a cigarette paper between the two parties on a host of issues, including damaging tax rises, gender self-ID, the Hate Crime Act and the economic and environmentally illiterate decision to abandon the North Sea oil and gas sector."