Anas Sarwar: I know Scots are angry with unpopular Keir Starmer

Delivering a speech in Edinburgh with just four months to go until the Holyrood election, the Scottish Labour leader acknowledged voters are “angry, frustrated and impatient” with the pace of change promised by the Prime Minister.

He said he was not in denial about Sir Keir’s unpopularity, but was running for the top job “in defiance” of it. Mr Sarwar admitted the UK government had made mistakes and his party is now the “underdog”.

Scottish Labour is suffering in the polls due to widespread unhappiness with the UK government, with recent surveys showing the party dropping to third place behind Nigel Farage's Reform UK.

In an attempt to combat this, Mr Sarwar is seeking to frame the election in May as a straight fight between his party and the SNP, rather than a referendum on Sir Keir’s leadership.

“The UK Labour government has many meaningful achievements which they need to shout louder about, but it is also fair to say that they haven’t got everything right,” he said.

“And there are many challenges they still must confront. I get it. I don’t just see it. I feel it across Scotland. I know the Prime Minister and the UK Labour government are not popular with the public right now.

“So, I am not running to be Scotland’s First Minister in denial of that truth. I am running to be Scotland’s First Minister in defiance of it.”

During his speech, he challenged First Minister John Swinney to a series of head-to-head debates in every region of Scotland, each focused on a different policy area the Scottish Government is responsible for. The SNP dismissed this, arguing it was “not for the party trailing in third place to dictate the format” of debates.

Mr Sarwar insisted the election is “not about Keir Starmer, Westminster or Nigel Farage”, but about who leads Scotland.

“This election is about our country,” he said. “It is about Scotland’s choice. Because in May you are not choosing a UK Prime Minister. You are choosing Scotland’s First Minister.”

The SNP has had its chance, he said. “They blew it.”

Meanwhile, in a speech in Glasgow, Mr Swinney called on SNP activists to help “build a national movement for hope” and place independence "at the heart of our campaign". The First Minister insisted the best way to make daily life more affordable for people “is for Scotland to become an independent country”.

He argued the UK economy is “broken” and living standards are “flat as a pancake”.

Mr Swinney has set a goal of winning an overall majority of seats in Holyrood at the election - a feat achieved only in 2011 - in order to push for a second independence referendum.

He told The Scotsman the narrative of May’s vote being a chance to oust Sir Keir Starmer from Downing Street was “common currency". Sir Keir is widely expected to face a leadership challenge if Labour performs poorly at elections in Scotland, Wales and English local authorities.

Mr Sarwar said Scottish Labour has an election fund “sitting at £1 million, and rising”, with almost £500,000 of this cash having been raised over the holiday period alone.

He said his party would also unleash “the most sophisticated and largest digital operation of any party in Scotland, reaching one million Scots every week”, while Labour has “the largest and most effective ground campaign of any party” in Scotland.

Scottish Labour dramatically outspent the SNP at the general election in 2024, which saw the latter lose 39 seats. However, Mr Swinney told journalists his party was “substantially on the way to reaching” the national spending limit of £1.5 million.

During his speech, Mr Sarwar accused the First Minister of seeking to make the election about anything other than the SNP’s record.

“I believe in my vision for Scotland, and I am happy for it to be tested,” he said. “That is why I am challenging John Swinney to not just leaders’ debates, but head-to-head First Minister debates, one in every region of Scotland.

“Each debate focused on a key responsibility of the Scottish Government. So we can debate the SNP’s record of failure on the NHS, and my plan to fix it.

“So we can debate falling standards in schools, and my plan to raise them. So we can debate the housing emergency, justice, local government, transport and the economy.

“I have the hunger, I have the energy, I have the ideas, I am up for the challenge. Is John Swinney?”

Mr Sarwar also took aim at Reform, insisting he relished the opportunity to confront and defeat Mr Farage’s party. It is on course to return a substantial number of MSPs in Holyrood despite lacking a separate leadership structure north of the Border.

The rise of Reform has eaten into support for the Scottish Conservatives, who are now struggling to make an impact. Russell Findlay, the Tory leader in Scotland, laid out his own pitch to voters in a speech in Edinburgh on Monday afternoon.

He said making the cost of living more affordable must be the top priority, and advocated bringing down bills and cutting taxes, while reducing the amount of money spent on benefits.

Mr Findlay called for the thresholds at which people start paying income tax, and start paying the higher rate, to rise in line with inflation. He also recommitted to a previous proposal to reduce income tax to 19 per cent for lower- and middle-income households.

He said the measures would save taxpayers up to £718.