Sarwar: Economic growth will be Labour’s ‘number one priority’ in Scotland

Anas Sarwar pledged to make economic growth the “number one priority” if Labour is elected to power in Scotland.

Th Scottish Labour leader hit out as the new First Minister vowed he would “dedicate every fibre” to delivering economic growth.

But Mr Sarwar insisted the “harsh reality” was that the new SNP leader could not deliver the change needed.

While the Scottish Labour leader said Mr Swinney was right to call for a “new kind of politics”, he added: “It can’t come from him.

“He’s had his chance, he’s had his opportunity and, after 17 years, Scotland has paid the price.

“So we need fresh leadership, we need new ideas, we need change.”

He claimed that over the last 17 years of SNP Government, Mr Swinney had been the “architect of divisive politics” and had “made it an art form to shout down and clamp down opposition”.

And with the new First Minister now leading a minority administration at Holyrood, he added it was “galling” for the SNP leader to “now pretend he is the great unifier of our nation”.

Mr Sarwar added: “The reality is that John Swinney has been at the heart of every SNP failure for the last 17 years, he’s been at the heart of the SNP leadership for the last 40 years.”

He claimed Mr Swinney’s party had left Scotland’s economy “lagging behind other parts of the UK”, with Mr Sarwar contrasting that with Greater Manchester where, under Labour mayor Andy Burnham, the city has used its “limited levers” to “outstrip almost every other part of the country in terms of inward investment and growth”.

However, he accused the SNP of opting for “government by press release and government by announcement”, claiming there was “no coherent strategy” from the Scottish Government.

Speaking in Glasgow, Mr Sarwar said: “That is fundamentally going to change.

“We will put an economic directorate at the heart of the office of first minister, we will have an overarching economic growth plan that covers every part of government and we will make sure that economic growth becomes our number one priority.”

This he said, would allow a future Scottish Labour government to “reform our public services, in particular our NHS” and to lower taxes for working people.

He made the commitment in a speech marking the 25th anniversary of the first sitting of the Scottish Parliament where he claimed that the issues the country is facing are the “biggest since the dawn of devolution”.

Mr Sarwar said: “After so many years of SNP mismanagement, we can’t just have more of the same.

“Continuity will not cut it. Chaos and incompetence cannot be as good as it gets.”

He insisted Labour would make “devolution fit for the future” adding his party would seek to “repair relationships between the Scottish and UK governments”.

Mr Sarwar said his party would “prioritise co-operation over conflict and ensure that Scotland is at the heart of government in Westminster, with Scottish MPs around the Cabinet table”.

He also pledged “stronger powers” for the Scottish Parliament to hold ministers to account, along with elected committee conveners at Holyrood, a right to recall for MSPs,  and stronger Freedom of Information laws to “ensure greater transparency and to rebuild trust in politics”.

Criticising the record of the SNP and its new leader, Mr Sarwar said: “We have a First Minister who, when he was finance secretary, sucked up power to Holyrood, and decimated local services.

“The SNP is not a party of devolution. It wants to hoard power in Edinburgh.”

But he promised Labour would “empower communities with a new fair funding formula for councils, and a Local Democracy Act to create regional mayors and greater co-operation across our regions”.