Anas Sarwar said he “absolutely” intends to stay in post as Scottish Labour leader as he blamed a “national wave” against the party across the UK as the reason for their defeat in the Holyrood election.
With Scottish Labour recording its worst result of devolution with only 17 MSPs elected, Mr Sarwar accepted the result of the election was “disappointing and hurtful”.
Labour is now tied with Holyrood newcomers Reform UK for second place in the Edinburgh Parliament.
But with Labour also suffering poor results in local councils in England, and losing control of the Senedd in Wales for the first time since devolution, Mr Sarwar insisted that the election “came down to a big national wave and a general vibe we couldn’t change”.
The election came some three months after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (left) had called for Sir Keir Starmer to quit as Prime Minister. (Jane Barlow/PA)
Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show the Scottish Labour leader accepted his “fair share of the responsibility” for the result, which saw the SNP returned to power for a fifth consecutive term in government.
But he insisted “there was a national wave” against Labour, with Mr Sarwar, who called for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to quit back in February, saying: “You can see that right across every part of the United Kingdom.”
He had believed his party could repeat its success from the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election last year, where Labour had defied the polls to win.
Mr Sarwar said: “Of course we thought we could replicate what happened in Hamilton across the country, and ultimately we failed to do so.”
Labour failed to hold on to that Hamilton constituency in the election, and pressed on who was behind the strategy for the overall campaign, Mr Sarwar said: “I as leader take full responsibility for the strategy of the campaign.”
He insisted: “The reality, though, is we believed we could cut through the national noise, we had a campaign designed to try to cut through the national noise, but we failed to do so and ultimately that is why we got the result we did.”
Claiming he would “absolutely” be staying in post as Scottish Labour leader, Mr Sarwar said: “I see my job as holding my party together and making sure we play our part in Parliament, in the national interest, to hold this government to account.”
However, he refused to say if he would still be leading the party at the next Holyrood elections in five years time.
Questioned about this Mr Sarwar would only say: “I’ve got a job to do, I intend to do it and I want to work closely with my colleagues to try to deliver for the great people of Scotland.”
He added the “surprising thing” is that he is the longest serving leader of any of the parties at Holyrood, with Mr Sarwar saying: “You don’t often hear that from a Scottish Labour politician.”
Looking ahead to the next five years at Holyrood, he said that “this has to be a Parliament that holds the government to accounts, holds them on their record, holds them to the promises they made”.
Mr Sarwar insisted he wants to “make sure we hold the government to account, hold them to their promises but also give an effective opposition”.
He said: “My responsibility now is to hold my party together, and secondly is to hold the newly elected SNP government to account on their record, on the promises they made and to make sure we have a parliament and a democracy that functions in Scotland.”
