Fact check: Anas Sarwar's Scottish family firm does pay all staff the living wage

The Scottish Labour leader was accused of hypocrisy over the situation.

Anas Sarwar has faced questions over his family’s business, specifically whether all staff are paid the real living wage.

It follows Labour’s “New deal for working people” promising to deliver a “genuine living wage”.

In 2017, Mr Sarwar’s minority shareholding in the firm United Wholesale was said to be worth £4.8 million, but having signed a discretionary trust deed at the time, he cannot access the assets.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar faced some difficult questions.

So does the business pay the real living wage and what does Mr Sarwar know about it?

Interview

Appearing on the BBC’s The Sunday Show, the Scottish Labour leader was asked whether the firm does pay the real living wage. Here is a transcript of what was said.

Host Martin Geissler: “Let me just check, is your family business now paying all of its staff at least the real living wage?”

Sarwar: “Well, they have a really good strong relationship with the USDAW trade union.”

Geissler: “That should be a really easy question to answer. Is your family business now paying all its staff at least the real living wage?”

Sarwar: “They will have to do what everyone will have to do, which is comply with the new deal for working people that will deliver a genuine living wage, and they have a trade union recognition agreement with USDAW and a very strong relationship with USDAW.”

Geissler: “Just to be clear, you can’t answer that question with a yes?”

Sarwar: “It's not my business. I have no shares in that business. It's a business that yes, my family has an involvement in, but I have no direct involvement with that business”.

Geissler: “But they’ve had problems with this in the past.”

Sarwar: “It’s a business that my family has an involvement in, but I do know they have a strong relationship with their trade union USDAW."

Geissler: “I promise you – last question on this. But it’s really important that we understand it, because it goes back to the issue of trust again, because it’s a ‘do as I say, not as I do’, potentially. Do you not know whether they pay all their staff at least the real living wage?"

Sarwar: “I don’t believe that every single staff member is on the real living wage, but I know there have been significant increases in the wage negotiated with USDAW trade union, and every business, including that one, will have to comply with a new deal for working people, which will deliver a genuine living wage right across the country.”

Verdict

The Scottish Labour leader appeared to have confirmed the family business does not pay all staff the real living wage, but expects them, along with all other businesses, to do so in the event of a Labour government.

However, union chiefs have since issued a statement insisting all workers at United Wholesale are paid at least the real living wage.

An Usdaw spokesman said: “Usdaw has a trade union recognition agreement with United Wholesale Scotland and we negotiate on pay with the company. In our last negotiation, we agreed a pay deal that delivered an income higher than the real living wage for all employees.

"If the media had any queries about this, then they should have contacted the company or the union, not a third party who has no role in this relationship.

"We would urge political parties to get their own houses in order, for example when the SNP were found to have used zero-hour contracts to deliver campaign materials.”

Mr Sarwar’s comments had earlier sparked criticism from his political rivals, with the SNP accusing him of “hypocrisy” while the Conservatives said the Scottish Labour leader had been left in a “humiliating position”.