SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said he believes he can win the Scottish Parliament election and become first minister, even though prime minister Sir Keir Starmer remains unpopular with voters in Scotland.
Speaking ahead of the Holyrood election on May 7, Sarwar said he was confident Labour could take power and make Scotland the party’s success story across the UK, despite recent polling setbacks.
Labour’s support north of the border has fallen over the past 18 months and has been overtaken by Reform UK, while the Scottish National Party continues to lead in opinion polls.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Thursday (8), Sarwar said: “We are going to win that election. That’s my ambition and my intention.”
Asked about Starmer’s record, Sarwar said the UK government had delivered progress in several areas, pointing to rising wages, lower mortgage rates, falling child poverty, increased public spending and lower net migration compared with previous Conservative governments.
However, he accepted that the prime minister was struggling to connect with many voters in Scotland. “I’m not going to pretend that the prime minister and the UK government are popular here right now,” he was quoted as saying.
Sarwar said he was not ignoring that dissatisfaction but believed he could still win. “I’m not going to stand for first minister in denial of that. I believe I can win in defiance of that, because I’m going to make this election about Scotland,” he said.
He also addressed criticism after suggesting earlier this week that Starmer and senior ministers should not play a central role in the campaign.
The Labour leader said he would lead the election himself and that the best contribution UK ministers could make was to focus on improving people’s lives from Westminster.
“This election is about Scotland,” he said, adding that voters should not use it as a protest against decisions made elsewhere.
The comments come amid reports of unease within Scottish Labour. Some MPs are said to be privately urging health secretary Wes Streeting to challenge Starmer’s leadership before May, fearing Labour could perform badly at Holyrood.
Recent polling shows Labour support in Scotland at 16 per cent, while satisfaction with Starmer has fallen to 14 per cent, with more than three-quarters of voters saying they are dissatisfied.
Meanwhile, Reform UK has made gains in Scotland, with the party planning to focus its campaign on domestic issues rather than independence.
