Scotland’s inaugural first minister Donald Dewar would be disappointed by the progress of devolution since parliament was re-established 25 years ago, Anas Sarwar has said.
The Scottish Labour leader told The Herald’s Unspun Live at the Fringe that Mr Dewar was the best first minister Scotland had ever had.
The Labour politician served as first minister from 1999 until his death in 2000, however he is often credited as being the architect of devolution.
While Secretary of State for Scotland in Tony Blair’s government, Mr Dewar began the devolution process. It resulted in Scotland’s first parliament in almost 300 years.
Mr Sarwar praised Mr Dewar, adding he was politician who “believed politics was bigger than himself and bigger than his own party”.
He also had to persuade the country – and many within his own party – of the importance of devolution, the Scottish Labour leader said.
Mr Sarwar said: “Donald had to do something that I think others hadn’t had to do which is he had to first of all win a referendum to get the Parliament.
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“He then had to build credibility for an institution and he had to persuade people on devolution. He didn’t have to persuade just his own country, he had to persuade people in his own political party, in his own political movement.
"I also think he was a person of immense stature, and also someone that believed politics was bigger than himself and bigger than his own political party.
“He was genuinely a politician that wanted to pull people together. To be honest, and perhaps we will look back on this and think it was a naïve view he had given everything that’s happened in the last two decades in particular, but I think Donald genuinely believed that once you’ve got a parliament together with different people in different parties, we would do politics differently from how we did it in Westminster, and that we’d find common ground and that’s what drives us, rather than finding differences.”
The Herald’s editor Catherine Salmond asked the Scottish Labour leader whether Mr Dewar would be “disappointed” at the Scottish Parliament’s progress since it was re-established in 1999. He answered "undoubtedly".
The Scottish Parliament celebrated its 25th year in September last year.
Mr Sarwar said: “I think he would still be a believer of devolution. I think he would still be a defender of the institution but I think he would feel as if progress and story of devolution in 25 years has not lived up to the opportunity and potential that the Scottish people demanded.”
The Scottish Labour leader warned there was a “real risk” that Scotland’s debate would “suit people who want to live their lives constantly in a constitutional arguments mode”.
He added: “I think it’s safe to say that we have to change the drive for leadership, the back stories, and also the level of engagement and intent for ministers in the Scottish Government.
“I too often see ministers looking like they’re there to fill a space rather than to drive outcomes. We’ve got to get back to being an outcome driven country. We’ve got to get back to being a can-do country, not a can’t-do country.
“I honestly believe our people are there I just think – people often say does Scotland lack ambition? Scotland doesn’t lack ambition or imagination, they don’t lack talent. They lack a leadership that shares that amount of imagination and ambition.
“I want to start with a government that meets the aspirations of the people of Scotland.”
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