<\/p>\n
Anas Sarwar: I want this election to be about what change looks like (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n
The Scottish Labour leader admits mistakes have been made, but is staying focused on the prize, writes TERRY MURDEN<\/p>\n
As a fan of wrestling, Anas Sarwar is trying to stay focused on pinning down the First Minister, though his other ringside b\u00eate noire, the Prime Minister, continues to hinder his chances. The Scottish Labour leader\u2019s infamous distancing from Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s perpetual u-turns and misjudgements was meant to clear his route into Bute House. Alas, the scrap has only become more troublesome.<\/p>\n
Sarwar\u2019s call for Starmer to step down backfired when the Cabinet united around Downing Street, leaving their man in the north to fight his own corner. Needless to say, Labour ministers have been conspicuous by their absence during the Scottish election campaign.<\/p>\n
Adding to the pressure on the Scottish party, the Mandelson affair refuses to go away and, closer to home, the PM delivered another blow to his Scottish lieutenant by making no attempt to meet him during a recent visit to the Faslane naval base on the Clyde.<\/p>\n
If the soured relationship is getting to Sarwar, he\u2019s putting on a remarkable show of strength and determination to take the battle to the SNP and prove he is his own man. <\/p>\n
We meet at a function in a rooftop bar in Glasgow where the guests include the businessman Lord Haughey who, along with Sir Tom Hunter, has been a frustrated critic of Holyrood\u2019s approach to business.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe case we will make is that, as disappointed people may feel with Sir Keir Starmer, or the UK Labour government \u2013 and much of that frustration I feel too \u2013 this election is not about judging a government that has been in power for two years it is about judging a government that has has been in power for 20 years,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a protest election. I want to make this an election about Scotland and I have to make that positive case about what change looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fighting a Scottish election, however, is not wholly about devolved issues. The chaos at Westminster and the decisions that have impacted businesses and households across the UK hover over the Holyrood campaign like a looming storm and are just as likely to affect voters\u2019 decisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get that, but I will be taking a principled position on the positions we believe in such as opposing the cut to winter fuel payment which I\u2019m glad has been reversed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at the issues which affect business, yes some people have frustrations with the National Insurance hike and changes to inheritance tax, but let\u2019s not pretend we do not have economic levers here in Scotland. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have lost count of the number of hospitality businesses that have been impacted by the business rates hike, with 200% or even 400% increases. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat is all decided in Scotland. That is not Westminster, or the Chancellor or Prime Minister imposing those decisions on Scotland. These are decisions made in Scotland. So those economic levers that sit in Scotland are what we are going to talk about in this campaign.\u201d <\/p>\n
Back to Westminster and what about the gains that Labour has made? Is there not a contradiction in him denouncing a Prime Minister who has overseen some well-received policy changes, such as the overseas trade deals, lowering the energy cap, investing in defence? Why not promote these gains?<\/p>\n
Sarwar with businessman Lord Willie Haughey (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a relentlessly positive campaign,\u201d he insists.\u201dThere have been successes by the UK Labour government\u2026 the failure of the government has been not telling the story of where they are trying to take the country. The many good things they have done have been lost because there have been misjudgements.<\/p>\n
\u201cA significant decision the UK government has done is to strike a \u00a310bn defence deal with Norway which is transformational. Am I going to pretend everything has been great, that there have been no misjudgements? No, I am not.\u201d<\/p>\n
He again tugs the agenda back to Holyrood and the record of the SNP government. \u201cThe people of Scotland deserve to know what my values and standards are and what I would do differently,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I am interested in is how do we use the opportunities here in Scotland to fix our NHS, to make life more affordable and to build that better future for Scotland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis election campaign is a relentlessly positive one because I think our country can do better than the division that is spearheaded by either Reform or the SNP. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have the talent, the ideas and the resources. We\u2019ve got the powers. What we don\u2019t have is a government that works as hard as our people do, or a First Minister who shares the ambitions and aspirations of families across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m speaking positively about how we grow Scotland\u2019s economy, positively about how we back businesses, end the waste and achieve amazing things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite those \u201cpositivity\u201d pledges, his deputy Jackie Baillie described the Scottish Conservative manifesto\u2019s call for lower business rates, reform of planning and less regulation as \u201cnot being worth the paper it is written on\u201d, even though they were measures welcomed by the business community, and even by Scottish Labour. Baillie later said the same thing about the SNP manifesto.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s Jackie in a modestly kind mood,\u201d jokes Sarwar. Some would say it shows Labour being out of touch, or being too focused on rubbishing the opposition even when they are offering policies that Labour says it supports.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say the opposite. If you look at our manifesto it is firmly on the side of business, but it is realistic about the things we can do and the ambition we have if we manage to achieve our growth targets.\u2019<\/p>\n
Sarwar with Jackie Baillie at the Labour manifesto launch (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n
Sarwar dimisses the regular refrain that politicians lack business experience. \u201cThe thing that makes me different from other leaders is that I have seen it from all sides,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve grown up on the industrial floor, the warehouse floor. Not just sweeping the floor, but to price the items, to get them on the shelves and to look at what it means for margins and costs. Growing up in an entrepreneurial family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have experienced the public sector, having worked in our NHS as a dentist before coming into politics. So I have seen all three sides.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says that he understands the relationship between business and politics and how it is necessary to create the right conditions for business to prosper in order to finance public services. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we are honest with ourselves many of the things we accept in the public sector would never be accepted in the private sector. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow do we get a genuine partnership with business to maximise the growth opportunities? For example, taxes are too high in Scotland. How do we drive them down? I am not going to pretend you can just cut tax on day one. We have to grow our economy if we are going to cut taxes. <\/p>\n
\u201cPlanning is devolved and our planning system is archaic. The average planning application in Glasgow takes 57 weeks. In Manchester it takes 13 weeks. Where will the investors go? They will go to Manchester. That\u2019s why we will have a national planning agency, but with local decision making. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur skills system is wholly devolved. We will have skills development hubs, including on the Clyde, so that jobs can go to kids in Glasgow. Right now a third of the workforce comes from Eastern Europe or the Philippines. We will back that up with 9,000 apprenticeships. Housing is devolved and we will build 125,000 homes across all tenures to drive down homelessness but also ramp up construction jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a hefty to-do list, though it doesn\u2019t differ much from what is on offer from the other parties. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe difference is I\u2019ll do them,\u201d he asserts, However, even some of his Labour colleagues were disappointed that the manifesto did not deliver a \u2018big idea\u2019 that would capture the public\u2019s imagination. <\/p>\n
\u201cMaking Scotland work is the big idea,\u201d he says. It\u2019s pointed out that this is close to the Conservative party\u2019s \u2018Get Scotland Working\u2019 slogan. \u201cYou\u2019ll have to ask the Tory party their view,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think getting the NHS fit for the future is a big idea\u201d. Again, other parties say that, and this is an interview about the economy. Where\u2019s the big economic idea?<\/p>\n
He presses on. \u201c125,000 new homes is a big idea.\u201d <\/p>\n
Where does he get that figure from?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe genuinely believe that by ramping up the speed of planning and attracting investment from the private sector as well as new development trusts we will create around housing associations that we can have a housebuilding revolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
He pushes other \u2018big ideas\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy ending the ideological block on nuclear energy we attract billions in investment and thousands of jobs. We have two sites ready to go at Hunterston and Torness.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbolishing business rates.. that\u2019s another big idea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Everyone talks about business rates reform. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut I am going to do it. That\u2019s the difference,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
What about his own record so far? Does he admit to mistakes, such as pledging to keep Grangemouth open and compensate the Waspi campaigners? Didn\u2019t Labour let down thousands of women after a series of promises and photo opportunities promising compensation over the changes to the state pension age? <\/p>\n
\u201cOn Grangemouth, we have not breached any manifesto commitments. It is right that \u00a3120m went in to save the jobs at the petrochemicals site that protected 500 jobs. My regret is that we could not do more to save jobs at the refinery site. <\/p>\n
Labour had supported the Waspi pension campaign (pic: DB Media Services)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reality, though, and the business has said this, that the warnings were coming for almost a decade and the Tory government at Westminster and the SNP government failed to act.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also think it was wrong for us to have so much confidence in Jim Ratcliffe [owner of the Grangemouth refinery] doing the right thing. I think he did the wrong thing by the workforce and was being intransigent, having run down that site for decades which is deeply unfortunate and is another example of why we have to make sure some of our key assets are in the right kind of hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the Waspi campaigners, Rachel Reeves told Daily Business before the General Election that despite Labour\u2019s campaign promises she had not budgeted to compensate the women if she became Chancellor. It was a major admission that led to one of the new government\u2019s first big embarrassing u-turns. <\/p>\n
Sarwar says: \u201cWe should have taken a more balanced approach. Recognise the country had less money so it was not able to do all the things it wanted to do .<\/p>\n
\u201cRather than a blanket \u2018no compensation\u2019 policy, they should have targeted payments at the lowest income pensioners and made incremental payments. That would have been a more reasonable thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does he believe Holyrood needs more powers, particularly to drive economic growth?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the next stage is less about transferring powers from Westminster to Holyrood, its more about transferring powers to the regional economies.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake Manchester, for example, its growth is outstripping Glasgow city region and many other parts of the UK. How do you get regional economic development with that Metro Mayor model? I think that is the next stage of devolution because we have this one-size-fits-all idea. The region of Glasgow is going to have a different economic model to the Highlands and Islands or the south of Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among Sarwar\u2019s list of personal battles has been a televised spat with Malcolm Offord, leader of Reform UK Scotland, who told viewers that the Labour leader had offered to work with him to keep out the nationalists. <\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely not,\u201d says Sarwar. \u201cThe very idea that the people who have tried to racebait me through this campaign are some of those I want to do a secret deal with is nonsense. I want Reform to get absolutely hammered in this election campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before they almost came to blows, did the Reform leader know he is a wrestling fan who had once fancied trying his luck in the ring?<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably not, but he certainly knows now.\u201d<\/p>\n
PERSONAL CHECKLIST<\/p>\n
Birthplace: Glasgow<\/p>\n
Age: 43<\/p>\n
Education: Hutcheson\u2019s Grammar School, Glasgow University<\/p>\n
Career highlights: Worked as a dentist in Paisley before turning to politics. Served as the MP for Glasgow Central (2010\u20132015), where he was Deputy Leader of Scottish Labour (2011\u20132014) and a Shadow International Development Minister. He has been a regional Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow since 2016 and Scottish Labour leader since 2021<\/p>\n
Family<\/p>\n
He and his wife Furheen have three children. He is the son of the UK\u2019s first Muslim MP, Mohammad Sarwar<\/p>\n
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