Anas Sarwar insists he 'absolutely' has confidence in Keir Starmer

Mr Sarwar said the Prime Minister had lifted the Labour Party “up from the ground” while getting rid of the Conservatives “who were doing so much damage to our country”.

Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, he added: “He won an absolute landslide, and he is getting on with the job of cleaning the mess left by the Tories and improving our country for the better.”

It comes just days after Mr Sarwar notably failed to pledge his full confidence in the Prime Minister.

Asked on Thursday, he said: "He's got a very difficult job and we've made significant progress in the last year. But if I had one criticism of a UK Labour government, it is that there have been huge successes, but very few people have been told about them.”

However, asked the same question on Sunday, he replied “absolutely”, adding: “What I said last week was that it's frankly a ridiculous question to be asked about a man who just 15 months ago got rid of a rotten Tory government that was doing so much damage to our [country].”

A More in Common poll of nearly 20,000 people published in the Sunday Times forecasts Mr Farage will become the country's next prime minister with 373 MPs, while Labour is reduced to just 90.

Meanwhile, a Norstat poll for the same paper in Scotland found Reform is now ahead of Scottish Labour on the constituency vote in Holyrood, and tied on the regional list vote.

Mr Sarwar insisted he and Scottish Labour have been “written off so many times”, adding: “We have proven the pollsters and the pundits wrong time and time again, and we are going to do it again next year.”

Asked if the Prime Minister will be an asset to his Holyrood election campaign, he said: “Of course. Of course. But the best thing the Prime Minister can do is get on with the work and improve people’s circumstances across the whole country.”

Elsewhere, he attacked Mr Farage, insisting he “doesn’t understand Scotland, doesn’t care about Scotland and probably doesn’t even know many parts of Scotland and he would have to put it into his Sat Nav”.

Mr Sarwar added: “We are going to fight the bile and the divisive politics of Reform. We’re going to confront the issues that people legitimately have and therefore are tempted to vote Reform.”

Asked if Reform is ‘the enemy’, as described by Sir Keir, the Scottish Labour leader said: “Nigel Farage is an opponent. He probably thinks I’m the enemy. He thinks that I’m an outside. He thinks I don’t belong. I think I am more Scottish than he will ever be.

“I think I am more representative of British values than Nigel Farage will ever be. He is a political opponent and we’re going to defeat him. Scotland is going to reject him, and I’m confident the UK is going to reject him at the next general election.”

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said Mr Sarwar is “deluded”.

She said: “The public can see as clear as day that Keir Starmer is a dud who has broken countless promises, sent household bills soaring and performed numerous U-turns, yet the Scottish Labour leader claims he’s an asset.”