LABOUR has launched an attack on the “game-playing and incompetent” Conservatives – claiming Scotland needs a “better opposition”.
Anas Sarwar, leader of Scottish Labour, has warned voters that if Douglas Ross’s Tories remain the biggest opposition party following May’s Holyrood election, the next five years at the Scottish Parliament will be dominated by “old arguments”.
Mr Sarwar was speaking as he launched an advertising campaign urging voters to back his party on both the constituency ballot and the party list.
The Labour leader has warned against allowing the debate to return to the pre-Covid wrangling over the constitution and has pledged to focus on a “national recovery” from the coronavirus pandemic in the next parliament.
READ MORE: Anas Sarwar criticises Tories for 'just shouting about independence'
Speaking ahead of the launch of an ad van campaign, he said: “For too long the people of Scotland have been let down by the SNP government and a game-playing and incompetent Tory opposition.
“We cannot let the circus of the last few weeks become the parliament of the next five years.
“The people of Scotland deserve a better parliament, and to do that, they need a better government and a better opposition.
READ MORE: Douglas Ross not taking second place ahead of Labour 'for granted'
“And the key to getting a better government is having a better opposition.”
Mr Sarwar added: “We need a parliament focused on our national recovery from the pandemic – but Boris Johnson’s Tories only want to take us back to the old arguments.
“This week, postal votes start arriving on doormats as the democratic process of shaping our nation’s parliament for the next five years gets under way.
“Only a vote for Scottish Labour can stop an SNP majority and deliver a parliament that prioritises national recovery so that we can build a fairer and stronger Scotland.”
READ MORE: Tories to guarantee veterans access to services and benefits top-up
Some early polls indicated Labour could overtake the Conservatives to claim second spot behind the SNP at Holyrood with Tory leader Douglas Ross insisting he is not taking his party holding onto second place “for granted”.
But the latest polls show the Tories are forecast to hold onto second place with an initial boost in the polls for Labour under Mr Sarwar’s leadership appearing to level off.
Mr Sarwar has previously stressed he is “not naïve about the scale of the challenge” facing his party to reclaim credibility with the Scottish public.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel