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.

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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.

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“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.”

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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.