Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar delivered a speech to the party conference in Liverpool on Monday, following a decisive by-election win last week.

Michael Shanks took victory in Rutherglen & Hamilton West to give his party a boost ahead of an expected general election last year, meaning more eyes than usual would be on his party leader's address.

Here are the key points from Mr Sarwar as he spoke to delegates.

Winds of change

Mr Sarwar was introduced by Michael Shanks following his decisive win in the Rutherglen & Hamilton West by-election, and told the delegates that the result proved Labour was back in Scotland.

He said: “The tectonic plates have shifted.

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“The people of Rutherglen & Hamilton West spoke for all of Scotland and sent a message to two failing governments.

“Scottish Labour is once again the party that speaks for the hopes and aspirations of the people of Scotland.

“When I spoke to conference last year I said the road to Downing Street for the Labour government the UK so badly needs runs through Scotland, that I believed Labour MPs would be the one to put us there.

“Some of our opponents laughed, but I’ll tell you something: they aren’t laughing anymore.”

Pitch to Yes voters

The Herald:

In the middle of his speech, Mr Sarwar took a moment to address "people outside this hall", particularly those who had previously voted for other parties and, pointedly, those who had voted for independence.

He said: "I understand your frustration. I understand why you are desperate for change. I understand why you wanted to run a million miles away from this Tory government, but I believe we can work together to put them out of government.

“The same energy, hard work and humility will continue to show so we can earn your trust, earn your support and change our country in the process.

“A Labour government will deliver a new deal for working people across Scotland and the whole UK, while the SNP use zero hours contracts to deliver their election leaflets, our New Deal will ban zero hours contracts.”

Conspiracy Tories

While much of Mr Sarwar's speech was targeted at the SNP government in Holyrood, he condemned in very strong terms the administration at Downing Street.

He said: "Scotland will lead the way in delivering a UK Labour government.

"Friends, the change we've seen in Scotland would not have been possible if Keir Starmer had not worked to change our Labour party.

"In that time we've gone from our worst result since the 1930s to now being seen as a force which will finally rid our whole country of this rotten, out-of-touch, far-right crankfest, conspiracy theorist-ridden Tory government."

Read More: Anas Sarwar to tell conference Scottish Labour can beat SNP at general election

Environment

There was also a pitch on the environment, following a rollback of Net Zero targets by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Mr Sarwar said: "While the Tories are in climate denial, we will jump start the energy revolution, deliving more jobs, lower bills, clean energy and energy security.

"That will deliver clean energy by 2030, supporting 50,000 high-skilled clean energy jobs - all powered by GB Energy, a publicly owned energy generation company headquartered in Scotland."