Exclusive:Holyrood election: Anas Sarwar attacks 'arrogant' John Swinney for 'talking up Reform' to boost SNP
The Scottish Labour leader has attacked the First Minister, accusing him to attempting to boost his chances of re-elected by talking up Reform to voters
Anas Sarwar has accused SNP leader John Swinney of “talking up Reform” to boost his chances of keeping hold of the keys to Bute House.
The Scottish Labour leader vowed to be the "unifier" during the Scottish Parliament election campaign and "demonstrate that you can change the country by bringing people together".
Mr Sarwar accused Mr Swinney of “arrogance and complacency” as he insisted that Scottish Labour can still form the next government - despite currently lagging far behind in the polls.
Speaking to The Scotsman on the campaign trail in Troon, Mr Sarwar argued that Mr Swinney was poised to repeat the SNP’s mistakes during the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election last June in which the First Minister wrongly claimed it was a straight fight between the SNP and Reform. Labour narrowly snatched the by-election victory.
Mr Sarwar said the “very same people” who wrote off his party’s chances in the by-election are now “predicting we can’t win this election”.
“I believe we can and I believe we will”, he added.
“The reason why I have such confidence in that is I see an arrogance and a complacency in John Swinney and the SNP.
“Once people start thinking about this election, I think it will change. Once people start realising this election is about what happens in Scotland, that will change as well.
“I’m the only person that wants to make this election about Scotland. Why not John Swinney?”
Last week, Mr Swinney raised fears of Labour and Reform striking a “grubby backroom deal” if the SNP falls short of a Holyrood majority following May’s election.
The Scottish Labour leader has now accused Mr Swinney of talking up Reform’s chances at the polls to boost the SNP’s hopes of being re-elected.
“I can understand, although I fundamentally disagree, why John Swinney and the SNP want to talk up Reform”, Mr Sarwar said.
“They would rather talk up Reform than talk about what’s happening in Scotland.
“He would rather push people to Reform because he thinks it helps him stay in power rather than actually do the things he needs to do to improve the country.”
The Scottish Labour leader said he will “call out Reform for what they are”.
“Malcolm Offord is a chancer who has been in power and has screwed this country”, he added.
“We don’t need Reform to screw it again. All Reform can do is stop change - they can’t deliver change.”
But he admitted that what was “feeding the traffic towards Reform” was “people who have legitimate concerns and fears” and “don’t feel as if the government is meeting their aspirations or their hopes for their communities”.
He said: “I’m going to be the leader and I want to be a first minister who addresses those fundamental issues that push people towards these divisive parties and say we can fix the mess, we can get the basics right.
“We can build a better future and we can do it by bringing people together, not dividing them.
“I’m going to be the unifier of this election campaign. I am going to demonstrate that you can change the country by bringing people together.”
Mr Sarwar’s accusations come as he faces demands from the SNP to donate £100,000 of donations from the think tank, Labour Together, to charity.
It comes as its former chief, Labour MP Josh Simons, admitted apologised for reportedly spying on journalists.
Speaking in his first interview since he was forced from his government role, Mr Simons said he was "naïve" as the Labour outfit was caught up in a scandal over payments it made to journalists.
It is estimated the Scottish Labour Party tallied up than £100,000 from Labour Together during the 2024 general election campaign.
Almost half of current Scottish Labour MPs, and their constituency organisations, benefitted from the funding.
The SNP has asked whether Mr Sarwar was also “naïve” to accept the cash and have called for him to return the money to charity.
SNP campaign director, Angus Robertson said: “Anas Sarwar should donate the £100,000 he coined in from this creepy outfit to charity. It is not acceptable for this murky money to be influencing Scottish politics.
“The Scottish Labour party lined their pockets with tainted cash and it’s simply not good enough for Anas Sarwar to shrug his shoulders – his judgement has been shown to be utterly appalling time and time again.
“The former chief of the disgraced Labour Together has said he is ‘so sorry’ and he was ‘naïve’. Anas Sarwar should now tell us if he was naïve and if he will apologise too.
“Scottish voters deserve better than murky cash flowing from creepy London Labour think tanks into our politics and Anas Sarwar should show some substance here and do the right thing.”
Meanwhile the Scottish Tories have tabled plans for all government policy to be subject to a “growth test”.
The key focus of the party, according to business spokesman Murdo Fraser, would centre on increasing economic growth.
The party would also merge Scottish Enterprise, Skill Development Scotland and the Scottish National Investment Bank to form Growth Scotland, within which a dedicated exports division would be formed.
A £500 million Scottish Growth Fund would be formed from the capital investment of three agencies under a Scottish Conservative government.
Mr Fraser said: “Scotland’s economy has stagnated for years under the dead hand of SNP high taxes and regulation. That has to end.
“The next Scottish government must focus relentlessly on the economy – and that’s why we’d subject every new policy to a growth test.”
He added: “That means providing relief for businesses that have been clobbered by SNP taxes but also simplifying the landscape by merging existing quangos into one agency, Growth Scotland, and providing targeted advice and support for exporters.”
Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, has claimed the party has taken action after “abhorrent” incidents involving a Reform candidate branding the former first minister Humza Yousaf an “Islamist moron”.
It comes after Mr Offord, Reform UK’s Scottish leader, stood by his Holyrood candidates, after past social media posts emerged.
Linda Holt, the candidate for Fife North East, described former first minister Humza Yousaf as a “grandstanding Islamist moron” and said he was “not British” although he was born in Scotland.
Put to him by the BBC that Nigel Farage said last year that Reform’s vetting process would improve, Mr Yusuf said: “Obviously, all of that’s abhorrent and the party’s taken action on that.
“Reform has vetted over 8,000 candidates over the last couple of years.
“Even if our success rate is 99.9 per cent a handful will slip through.”
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