Anas Sarwar: The Tories are in terminal decline

The Scottish Conservatives are in "terminal decline" and next year's election is a straight choice between Labour and the SNP, Anas Sarwar has said.

Addressing activists in Glasgow, Sarwar dismissed claims that he would be "Starmer 2.0" if he becomes the next first minister, saying he would be "Anas Sarwar 1.0".

He said a Labour win in the upcoming Hamilton by-election, which was triggered by the death of SNP incumbent Christina McKelvie, would be "part of a pathway of delivering a Scottish Labour government next year".

But when asked if the prime minister will join Labour's campaign for the upcoming Hamilton by-election, he said the party does "not expect" Starmer to "do the hard work" to win the seat.

On the chances of Reform UK leader Nigel Farage turning out to campaign there, he repeated his claim that he does not "care about" Farage, because the MP "does not care about Scotland".

Labour suffered bruising losses at the local elections in England, with Reform making huge gains. Polling suggests it will attract sizeable support at the Scottish Parliament elections next year, with the latest figures from Survation predicting that it will overtake Labour.

While Sarwar recently took part in a summit organised by First Minister John Swinney on tackling the rise of the far-right in Scotland, he said Swinney wants to make the next election "all about the new bogeyman, Nigel Farage, and use that chancer as an excuse to talk about everything but the SNP's record in government".

Sarwar said: "Instead of dealing with his own failures, John Swinney will recklessly talk up Farage. Nigel Farage is John Swinney's new cover to replace the Tories."

Sarwar said: "The choice next year is whether we change the Scottish Government, and the choice next year is whether we have the third decade of the SNP or the new direction of the Scottish Labour; whether we have John Swinney in power for a third decade or me as first minister charting that new direction."

Commenting on recent defections from the Scottish Conservatives to Reform and the Lib Dems, Sarwar said: "The Conservative Party is in terminal decline, and thank goodness for that, having destroyed our country over the last 14 years. 

"I will shed no tears if both SNP and Tory politicians lose their seats and get beat."

Sarwar was introduced in an ante-room at Pollokshaws Burgh Hall by Kimberley Darroch, whose 10-year-old daughter Milly Main died as a result of an infection acquired at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

She described the Scottish Labour leader, who has campaigned on behalf of the family, as "a man of compassion" who "stood by me when I felt I was standing alone".

Sarwar said the case is "the clearest example of why we need a change" in government, also raising NHS waiting lists and saying that the extra GP appointments announced by John Swinney in this week's programme for government are "the equivalent of one extra appointment per GP every fortnight".

He said a Scottish Labour government would declare an NHS emergency to tackle waiting times and "make use of all the capacity available across our country to get people the treatment they need, and yes, even if it is in the private sector".

Sarwar, a former dentist, said: "The choice next year is this: the SNP who broke our NHS, or the NHS dentist that will do whatever it takes to fix it."