Anas Sarwar says a vote for Scottish Labour is no endorsement of Keir Starmer

Anas Sarwar insists he stands by his call for Keir Starmer to quit despite being accused of u-turning on the Prime Minister’s future.

Taking part in our leadership interviews series, the Scottish Labour also says a vote for his party in next week’s Holyrood election will not be taken as support for Starmer.

“I wasn’t willing to defend the indefensible, I don’t reoil from it, I don’t stand back from it. But I’m being really unequivocal about this, a vote for me and Scottish Labour on May the 7th is not an endorsement of Keir Starmer and it will not be used as an endorsement of Keir Starmer.”

WATCH: You ask the questions

Head-to-head battle with the SNP

The Scottish Labour leader says the election is a straight battle between himself and John Swinney to become First Minister, despite acknowledging he is the underdog. He would also the need support from elsewhere in Holyrood to achieve his ambition but has consistently denied doing a “grubby deal” with Reform.

Asked whether the he said/he said battle with Reform UK Scotland leader Malcolm Offord has done him any favours, the Scottish Labour said “I don’t think it helps anybody, but the reality is, I have to call out a lie. It’s not an option for us to just go along with the game that Reform want to play.

“On the night, I thought it was a smear, now I think it’s a concerted strategy and I think it is a strategy from both Reform and the SNP. They would rather talk about these silly issues rather than the big issues. I want to talk about the NHS, I want us to talk about how we are going to deliver an extra 15,000 classroom assistants, I want us to talk about how we are going to build 125,000 new homes.”

What about another referendum?

The Scottish Labour leader faced several questions from our listeners, including from Gerry in Glasgow who wanted to know if Scotland will become independent in the coming years, something rejected by Anas Sarwar:

“I know John Swinney is bluffing. He is not standing on an SNP majority, referendum, 2028, I heard one ludicrous claim that he is going to be the first Prime Minister of an independent Scotland, he is not saying these things because he thinks that is what is going to happen. He is saying it because he would rather talk about that than the big issues people are caring about.”

Pressed several times on whether the UK Government would respect calls for a referendum if the SNP wins a majority, the Scottish Labour leader said, “let’s not have the arguments about false mandates versus mandates because we don’t yet have an election result from 2026.”

One of Scottish Labour’s big education policies is to be ban mobile phones from the classroom, something which doesn’t get the backing of his own children:

“They don’t support this policy, there is no point in pretending otherwise. My eldest is going to be 18 soon anyways, so he should just get over it. My middle son is pretty laid back, on balance doesn’t agree with it, but says he understands it. My youngest, who doesn’t have a phone yet is just like ‘dad, this is terrible’.”

VOTE: Who are you backing?

Budding DJ

As part of our interview series, we’ve been asking our political leaders to tell us about their dream festival line up. The Scottish Labour leader says he would put a Scottish artist at the top of his bill:

“I think given the election song for me is Nathan Evans and Saint PHNX, I would have them as the headline act. Given my usual music taste are more R & B and Hip Hop, got to have a bit of Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Bruno Mars.”

As someone who is no stranger to getting behind the decks at Labour conference, the Scottish Labour leader was asked if he would put himself on the line up:

“I’d happily do a DJ set, and I would happily do a dance, but don’t get me singing, because if we do, it will be a flop.”

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