WHEN Scottish Labour named Anas Sarwar as their new leader in February 2021, the Glasgow MSP has set a political precedent by becoming the first non-white and also first Muslim leader of a major political party in the UK.
He follows in the footsteps of his father Mohammed, who was the UK’s first Muslim MP after being elected from Glasgow Central in 1997, a seat he held till 2010 when his son succeeded him. Sarwar was elected a list MSP for Glasgow in 2016, and a year later he has launched his first bid at party leadership, which was unsuccessful, though. The 38-year old won the race this time, and has an onerous responsibility of reviving Labour’s flagging fortunes in Scotland, which he admits is not going to be an easy task.
“I want to say directly to the people of Scotland – I know Labour has a lot of work to do to win back your trust because if we’re brutally honest you haven’t had the Scottish Labour party you deserve,” he has said after the party elections. “With rising injustice, inequality and division, I’m sorry we haven’t been good enough. And I will work day and night to change that, so we can build the country we all need.”
Before venturing into politics, Sarwar worked as a dentist in Paisley for five years and has spoken about how his father’s experiences had initially “put him off” being in politics. “[My father] faced a lot of prejudice and abuse, a lot of negativity and controversy,” he had once told Eastern Eye, revealing the extent of hate crime directed at him, a second-generation Pakistani-Scot, saying he and his family experienced Islamophobia on a “daily basis”, receiving death threats and hate mail.
Obviously, addressing this issue has been a top priority for him, and one of his significant achievements in this area would be the founding of a cross-party group on tackling Islamophobia at the Scottish Parliament in 2018. Sarwar takes particular interest in encouraging Muslims to engage in the “wider political framework” to discuss issues that can show others they have the “same hopes and aspirations as anybody else in our communities.”
“[Muslims] have the same concern about their kids getting a quality education, a loved one getting a good level of treatment in NHS or a social care place. How we curb Islamophobia is making people recognise, understand and celebrate difference,” he has said.
Sarwar has also done significant work in ensuring ethnic minorities get equal opportunities. He has put the spotlight on the ‘chronic under-representation’ of minority workers in Scotland’s public sector and has called for a “change in culture” in order for the public sector to fully reflect the Scottish society.
Sarwar is married to Furheen, who works as an NHS dentist, and the couple have three young children. His brothers, Athif and Asim, manage the wholesale business, United Wholesale (Scotland), established by their father, who is now an active politician in his native Pakistan, serving as the Governor of Punjab province.
