Scottish independence will not drive young people’s political thinking in 2026 – Anas Sarwar

Young voters will not be driven by the constitutional question at the next election, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said as he stressed it would take “hard work” but he could be First Minister in 2026.

Speaking to journalists on the final day of the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow, Mr Sarwar said the younger voters eligible to cast a ballot in 2026 would have been four years old during the independence referendum campaign and would likely have other issues be their political focus.

Mr Sarwar – along with UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer – sought to bring the party back to the centre ground during the three-day conference, shifting away from the leaderships of Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Leonard, emphasising the party’s “pro-business, pro-growth and pro-jobs” stance.

“If you think about the election in 2026, today’s 12-year-olds are going to have a vote on who the next First Minister is,” he said.

Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar gesticulates during the Scottish Labour Party Conference at the Royal Concert Hall

“Those same 12-year-olds would’ve only been four at the referendum in 2014.

“Are we honestly saying that generation are going to base their politics on what happened when they were four? No, they’re not.

“They’re going to base their politics on what politicises them, what energises them, what enthuses them right now and over the next four years as well.”

Mr Sarwar went on to say that young people have shown more “hunger for a new type of politics”.

He added: “Their form of aspiration is really, really different from my generation and our parents’ generation.”

The Labour leader went on to say that young families, and in particular young mothers, would be a key target for his party.

Meanwhile, the Labour leader said his “strong personal view” would be for Labour councillors not to enter into formal coalition with other parties, but that they work with other groups to solve local issues.

“I don’t think we should do formal coalitions with either the SNP or the Tories,” he said.

“I think it’s right that we try and elect as many Labour councillors as possible and elect as many Labour councils as possible, but I think it makes sense for local democracy to have decisions based on what is right on those individual decisions and for local people.

“So, I’m not going to get into this game … rule out coalitions with one party but accept coalitions with another.”

The fact that, during last year’s election campaign, only Nicola Sturgeon could credibly claim she would be First Minister after the vote was an “embarrassment for our national politics”, Mr Sarwar said.

“I want us to be in a credible position that when we go into that election in 2026 … I want to be able to put my hand up when that question comes.

“But it requires us to do the hard work necessary over the next four and a bit years so we can credibly do that and have a chance of doing that.”