Anas Sarwar makes pitch to independence supporters

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar says his party can help "transform Scotland"

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar says his party is "reaching out" to independence supporters ahead of the next general election.

Labour won in Rutherglen and Hamilton West last week, securing twice as many votes as the SNP.

Mr Sarwar, who is firmly opposed a second referendum, said he would not "close" his arms to Yes voters.

It came ahead of Sir Keir Starmer's keynote speech to the Labour conference on Tuesday afternoon.

• Labour defeats SNP to win key Scottish by-election

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Mr Sarwar said the "seismic" win showed Labour was the "party of persuasion" - despite a turnout of just 37.2%.

The Scottish Labour leader claimed it also showed independence supporters were not solely driven by constitutional concerns

He said his party was "reaching out" to such voters ahead of the next general election, expected to be held next year.

"I don't care how people voted in previous elections," he told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland.

Michael Shanks won the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election for Labour

He gave the example of the SNP's electoral breakthrough in the 2007 Scottish Parliament election.

"If you look at what Alex Salmond did in 2007, he didn't say the vast majority of Scotland opposed independence therefore I'm going to change my constitutional position," Mr Sarwar said.

"So I don't support independence, I don't support a referendum, but I'm not going to shut my eyes or close my arms to people who voted Yes in a referendum because so many of those people who voted Yes did so because they want to run a million miles away from this rotten Tory government."

Mr Sarwar said it was his "ambition" to form a Labour government following the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.

'We can transform Scotland'

His party is opposed to independence and has rejected calls for a second referendum.

Mr Sarwar said he wanted more powers to be devolved to Scotland.

But there were different ways of decentralising decision making, and it did not just mean power "being sucked up in Edinburgh at Holyrood," he told Good Morning Scotland.

He said politicians must consider how to strengthen the democratic power of local government, cities, towns. "And through unleashing that power, sharing that power and that wealth and that opportunity I believe we can transform Scotland," Mr Sarwar added.

Scottish Labour's candidate in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Michael Shanks, took the Westminster seat on a swing of 20.4% from the SNP.

SNP members will debate independence strategy at the party's annual conference

The by-election was called after former SNP MP Margaret Ferrier was ousted by her constituents for breaking Covid rules.

First Minister Humza Yousaf described it as a "disappointing" result for his party.

He said the circumstances "were always very difficult for us" and that Labour had benefited from a collapse in the Conservative vote.

The SNP leader will seek his party's backing for his independence strategy at the SNP conference in Aberdeen later this week.

He has proposed the Scottish government should seek independence negotiations with the UK government if the SNP wins the most seats in Scotland at the next general election.

Downing Street has consistently refused to countenance another referendum or negotiations on independence at this time.