Anas Sarwar admits Labour government must go 'further and faster' to counter surge of Nigel Farage's Reform

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has laid into Sir Keir Starmer’s government - admitting UK ministers must go “further and faster improving people’s lives” to counter the threat posed by Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Mr Sarwar has insisted that next year’s Holyrood election “is not about Nigel Farage”, claiming “it is about the NHS”.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar needs Keir Starmer's help if he is to beat the SNP (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell) | Getty Images

The Scottish Labour leader’s criticism of his party colleagues at Westminster comes after Reform made sweeping gains at local elections in England on Thursday, with the party poised to gain a foothold on Scottish politics in next year’s election.

A poll from Survation for the Diffley Partnership last week forecast Reform is on course to win 12 seats at next year’s election, with the Tories cut to 17 and Labour on just 25. The SNP is forecast to see 57 MSPs elected, with the poll suggesting it could form a pro-independence majority with the Scottish Greens.

Read more: Reform says membership in Scotland has topped 10,000

Speaking on the BBC’s The Sunday Show, Mr Sarwar stressed the Scottish public can choose to “set a new direction with Scottish Labour in government and me as first minister”.

Pointing to the polling, the Scottish Labour leader added: “The next year is going to be a challenge, but we’ve come through challenges before and won and we’ll do that again in the coming year. But we’ve got to persuade the public.”

Labour has been too slow to deliver change

The surge in support for Reform has coincided with apathy from voters to the UK Labour government since it swept to power in July last year.

Mr Sarwar has now criticised the Labour government for not bringing forward the promised change fast enough.

Read more: Scotland's top trade unionist lashes out at Keir Starmer's Labour's 'broken promises'

He said: “Are there things that a UK Labour government has to go further and faster on? Absolutely.

“Fundamentally, if we are going to challenge the politics of division, if we are going to challenge the politics of polarisation, governments have to deliver for people and people have to feel as if their lives are improving.

“Some progress has been made on that - for example the new deal for working people, the increase in the living wage. But people don’t think it’s gone fast enough yet. That’s the challenge I would pose to a UK Labour government that’s only been in power for less than a year that’s trying to clean up the mess of 14 years of the Tories.

“In Scotland, the SNP’s had its chance - if it had an idea, the SNP would have done it by now.”

The Scottish Labour leader insisted “we have done many good things” since forming the UK government.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar | Jane Barlow/PA Wire

But he added: “The point I would make to colleagues across the UK if you have to go further and faster improving people’s lives.

“Yes, they have to stop any kind of missteps but they also have to deliver on the promises made in the election further and faster so people can feel that chance.”

Mr Sarwar reiterated his opposition of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ controversial move to cut winter fuel payments, insisting it was “the wrong decision”.

Communication failures

Mr Sarwar also suggested there has been a breakdown in communication in the UK Labour government shouting about its achievements and what it wants to accomplish.

He said: “What I don’t want to say is it’s purely a communications issue.

Read more: Strikes Scotland: Unions warn of 'summer of discontent' if John Swinney's SNP don't meet pay demands

“I think partly you have to tell a more positive story about what the destination is for the country with a UK Labour government.

“I think they’ve got examples of that - but if you are going to paint a picture of where the country’s going to get to, I think we do have to demonstrate that much, much more clearly.

“In the here and now, just promising what the future looks like in five years or 10 years time is not going to be enough. People need to feel that benefit in the here and now.

“We have to go further and faster on the change that people want to feel in their communities.”

Pressed over the Chancellor’s unpopular decision to hike employer National Insurance contributions, Mr Sarwar said: “On National Insurance, that is a really difficult decision the Chancellor has to make.

“You can't have it both ways and that's the part of the debate that has been missing in Scotland.

“You can't on one hand say you want to put an extra £2bn to £3bn into our National Health Service but then oppose the means of raising the money to put into the National Health Service.”

The Scottish Labour leader indicated that SNP leader John Swinney will want to make next year’s crunch election “about Nigel Farage”.

Leader of the Reform Party Nigel Farage on a walkabout on April 25, 2025 in Beverley, England. Luke Campbell is the Reform Party Candidate for Mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, being contested on May 1st, 2025. (Photo by Ryan Jenkinson/Getty Images)

Mr Sarwar added: “I'm not interested in Nigel Farage and Nigel Farage is not interested in Scotland and he has no interest in the people of Scotland.

“I’m interested in the National Health Service, on which John Swinney is failing, I’m interested in our education system on which John Swinney is failing. I’m interested in spending the Scottish people's money well and ending the waste of the SNP. That’s the issues that are going to decide the election next year.”

Farage ‘not the answer’

He stressed that “Nigel Farage can’t fix those issues”.

The Scottish Labour leader added: “He can act as a spoiler and a cover for John Swinney. I can get rid of John Swinney and change the direction for Scotland.

Read more: 'I'll hold it but I won't eat it': Reform UK's Richard Tice's chaotic Glasgow chippy visit

“The election next year is not about Nigel Farage - it is about the NHS. We are electing a Scottish Government next year - that’s what people are going to choose.”

No Reform pact with Scottish Tories

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay told the BBC that Mr Farage “would be quite comfortable putting an SNP first minister into Bute House”, adding that "many of their candidates are nationalists”.

He added: “We are the party that understands the needs of mainstream Scotland.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay delivering his speech at the Novotel in Edinburgh.Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire

“I don’t know what Reform stands for.”

Asked if he understands the appeal of Mr Farage, Mr Findlay, bluntly, said: “No, I don’t.”

He added: “What I understand is why voters in Scotland and across the United Kingdom feel disillusioned, they feel disconnected and left behind by politics.

Read more: Defected Lib Dem MSP writes to 'politically homeless and scunnered' Tory voters to follow him

“I completely understand why people feel that way but Reform are not the answer.”

Asked if he could form an alliance with Reform, Mr Findlay said: “I’m not interested in doing any form of deal with Reform or any other party that would support the SNP or support splitting up the United Kingdom.”