Glasgow Times quizzes Anas Sarwar manifesto costings, what he stands for and private schools

Stewart Paterson: “What is your number one priority if you are to become First Minister of a Labour government in Scotland?”

Anas Sarwar: “I want us to recognise that this isn’t an ordinary election and the next five years aren’t going to be an ordinary parliament. I want the next five years to focus relentlessly on what unites us as a country not what divides us and to focus on a national recovery so that we can come through this most difficult of years and through that build a stronger and fairer nation that’s focused on jobs, the NHS, education our communities and a climate recovery.”

SP: “Your manifesto has just been published focusing on those five recovery plans. How can you implement all that within the powers that the Scottish Parliament has just now?  Is that achievable with what we’ve got just now?”

AS: “It is absolutely achievable with the powers we have in the Scottish Parliament. It is not a party manifesto it’s a recovery plan for our country and it’s a route map for better times for Scotland. What it does is it focuses on what Scotland can do, not what Scotland can’t do. And crucially it is bold, it is ambitious and I’ll give you one practical example of that. It is the most boldest and ambitious and biggest jobs creation scheme in the history of the Scottish Parliament, helping to create 170,000 new jobs across Scotland. I’m not shy about the size of the price tag for it, £1.2billion across our job creation scheme, but I think it’s vitally important for  us to recognise that we have to confront the economic and jobs emergency that’s going to  follow this pandemic and if we don’t do that we risk a spike in  unemployment and all the issues that related to  not just our economy but wider health and wellbeing as a result.”

SP: “Where are you getting the £1.2bn from to fund it?”

AS: “We have, within the budget of the Scottish Parliament over the course of the next parliament, and the year ahead, we have billions of pounds of unallocated and recurring and non- recurring spend available to us, particularly in the first year of the next parliament and I want us to use all of that money to focus on the national recovery and that hard work has to start now. We can’t afford to wait. I want that to start on day one of the next parliament.”

SP: “Would you like to see more powers of things like employment law or wages so that you can properly regulate employment practices and have full control over the national minimum wage?”

AS: “Two things on that. One is, I think we can lead by example in Scotland by creating Good Business Scotland which puts a condition on all those that receive any type of public funds that they have to meet minimum obligations around pay, around conditions and we are also recognizing that climate change is such an important part of what we have to do over the next parliament but they also have to meet obligations around our carbon reduction plan.

“Alongside that I do want us to have greater devolution but I want that greater devolution to help us provide recovery for all. I support us devolving employment law but doing it in a way that creates a floor across the UK and devolving to the nations and regions so we can have a race to the top on employment rights, not a race to the bottom.”

SP: “What is your top priorities on health, that was a big feature in your recovery plan?”

AS: “Two key priorities. One around caner and the other around mental health. We know that there are 7000 missing cancer diagnoses in the past year. We know that despite this pandemic cancer remains Scotland’s biggest killer and that’s why I want us to catch up on all those missed screening plans. I want us to have rapid diagnosis centres in every health board area across Scotland. But also, we need to focus on mental health because we know mental health is going to be the pandemic that follows this one.

“That’s why I want every GP practice to have a mental health worker, I want us to roll out mental health support in workplaces and in college and university campuses, in primary and secondary schools across the country too. So we can make sure we do not have a generational shift in a negative way around mental health.”

SP: “You mention schools there. What reforms would you make to education to, for example, close the poverty related attainment gap? “

AS: “The most urgent thing we need to do is to recognise the last year has exacerbated the inequalities in our society. Therefore, we need to have a radical and comprehensive education comeback plan. That has to be an individual assessment for every pupil across the country, not just on their education but also on their mental health. That needs to be backed up with one-to-one tutoring for those children that are identified as needing extra support.

“We need to have a resist guarantee for those young people who are in the formative years of their education, who may have not got the grades they wanted to get, so they get that guaranteed free re-sit so they can go and do those exams, get the grades they need and get access to a university place or the employment that they are looking for.

“We need to make sure all our teachers are vaccinated as a priority. It means ramping up the number of teachers we have because we know about the added pressure on teachers. We want 3000 new teachers, 100 ASN teachers that is the kind of bold action we neem. One other thing is the summer comeback pass. We want to sue the summer months, the opportunity of the lockdown ending and the summer months to give every child free access to sport to cultural facilities and activities so they can re-kindle those= friendships and make new friendships after the school holidays.”

SP: “I don’t think you ever get asked about schools without this question coming up. Can you explain to people your decision to send your own children to private schools? What was it that you thought it was best for your circumstances?”

AS: “I accept the criticism, I accept it being a fair question. It was a decision that my wife and I made based on what we thought was the best for our children but I want every child across the country to get the best and that’s why our education comeback plan is at the heart of our recovery plan.”

SP: “But are you able to explain what those factors were in your specific circumstances that you that was best for you.”

AS: “As I’ve said that was a decision that my wife and I took that we thought was int the best interest for our kids but I want every child to have the best and that’s why I’m focused on an education recovery plan.”

SP:  “Is the Scottish Labour party infighting over?”

AS: “The really strange thing about this is, looking into this election campaign I accept the criticism that the Labour Party didn’t look like it was a united place. It looked quite divided, it looked like it was fighting with itself.  But we now look like the most united of the mainstream political parties in this campaign.

“You’ve got the SNP in-fighting the Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon psycho-drama was threatening to take over this election campaign and threatening to take over our next parliament. And you have the Tories on the other side, with things being so bad that even Ruth Davidson has walked away. We have a Scottish Labour Party that’s united behind a recovery plan and looks like the most united of the mainstream political parties focused on building a parliament that works for you, your family and the national recovery.”

SP: “In the event that you lose even more seats than you’ve got just now, do you expect to be the leader going into the 2026 election.”

AS: “I’m in this for the long haul. I accept we’ve got to take the Labour Party on a journey and it’s going to take time to get the Labour Party back to where I want it to be and where I believe it needs to be and make it the Labour Party that people can have faith again across Scotland.

“I’m working day and night to give people the Labour Party they deserve. I’ve been at this job for eight weeks. I think people can already see that we are changing but that transition is not yet complete and I’ll continue to work on that over the coming years and I look forward to trying to take the Scottish people with us on that. Journey.”

SP: “Even though you’ve been around in Scottish politics for quite a while now, you’re a brand new leader.

“Where are you on the political spectrum? I’ve heard you been described as a centrist, a Brownite. Where would you place yourself on the spectrum of Labour?”

AS: “I’ve been asked this question, are you a Blairite, are you a Brownite, are you a Corbynite and you a Millibandite, are you a Starmerite? I’m Anas Sarwar, I don’t need to copy anybody else. I’m a leader in my own right I’ve’ my one brand in politics, I’ve my own thoughts in politics and what fundamentally make me different is I’m the leader that wants to focus on what unites use not what divides us.

“ It’s what how I’ve operated as an MSP, fighting all forms of prejudice and hate. It’s the way I’ve behaved throughout this pandemic. IT the way I’m leading the Labour party through this election. I want to change the way we do our politics. I’m the leader who believes in empathy, unity and hope and that’s the watchwords of my leadership.”

SP: “What is that brand, what got you into it in the first place?”

AS: “It’s a brand of its own, Stewart”.

SP: “But what is it?”

AS: “I want to change our politics.  It’s about fairness, it’s about equality, it’s about unity at the heart of our politics and I think you can see from the recovery plan that, that is a comprehensive plan that recognises the challenges of today, doesn’t focus on our history, doesn’t focus on our past but speaks to Scotland’s future.”

SP: Do you think Labour are still paying any price for the Better Together alliance?

AS: “Undoubtedly, the Labour Party has faced lots of challenged over the course of the last 20 years since the start of devolution. We created the Scottish Parliament, we were champions of devolution but we didn’t really look like we came to terms with devolution ourselves.

“There was obviously the challenge around the tail end of a Labour Government and what they meant for use here in Scotland and undoubtedly the referendum, particularly the aftermath of the referendum had an impact on the Labour Party but I support Scotland staying part of the United Kingdom. I don’t apologise for the fact that we remain part of the United Kingdom. I believe in, as I say, what unites us not what divides us that means I want to break down barriers, I don’t want to create new barriers. I opposed Brexit, that’s why I don’t support independence. I actually believe in an idea bigger than independence, it’s called interdependence, and it’s called working together with other nations to confront the big challenges facing our community, facing our society and facing our world.”

SP: “What was your role in that campaign?”

AS: “I led the Labour campaign and I’m back on the big red bus again. I was in a big red bus when I led the Labour campaign taking the Labour message to communities across the country in a big red bus.”

SP: “Why should people in Glasgow vote for Labour?”

AS: “If people in Glasgow want a parliament and politicians that are going to focus on them, their family and the national recovery, who are not going to just talk the right game but actually deliver in actions, I say to them directly: I know the Labour Party has got things right in Glasgow and delivered great things for Glasgow but I don’t want to dwell on our past. I also know the Labour Party has got things wrong and the Labour Party is changing in a significant way not just in terms of our message but in the way we act, operate and our policies across Glasgow and for the wider Scotland. So, if you want to join us on that journey, help us give you and Scotland the Labour Party it deserves, so we can rebuild together the country we love.”