Anas Sarwar – 2022 Speech to Labour Party Conference

The speech made by Anas Sarwar on 26 September 2022.

Can I start by thanking my friend and our next Secretary of State for Scotland, Ian Murray.

And conference – I want to take this opportunity to say I honestly couldn’t do this job without the fantastic Jackie Baillie by my side.

So, let’s hear it for Scottish Labour’s Deputy Leader, Jackie Baillie.

Some would actually say she is the real boss.
Conference – when I spoke to you just over a year ago, Scottish Labour was a distant third place.

What progress we have made in a year.

At the council elections in May we knocked the Tories out of second place.

And, just like the successes we had across the country, we now have Labour administrations in our capital city, Edinburgh, and in East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Fife, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Lothian, and majority Labour-controlled West Dunbartonshire.

And in Glasgow, we gave Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP one hell of a fright. Less than 200 votes from winning.

But, let me be clear the Scottish Labour Party I lead doesn’t aspire for second place, we aspire for first place.

We’re back in the fight and we’re in it to win it.

Conference – last year we met in the aftermath of one national emergency.

A pandemic that exposed the fault lines and failures in our country after more than a decade of Tory austerity.

But it also revealed the strength and charity of our communities – who pulled together to help their neighbours in a time of need.

Again – and too soon – those ties that bind us together have been called on once again.

The cost-of-living crisis is a national emergency that needs a pandemic scale response.

As I’ve travelled round the country, I’ve listened to the heartbreaking stories…

I’ve met the father worried about how he is going to keep his house warm for his newborn. He’s not alone.

The mother who skips meals to ensure her children don’t go to school hungry. She’s not alone.

The family digging up their garden to plant vegetables because they can’t afford the weekly shop. They are not alone.

The business owner hit with eye-watering energy bills which means they aren’t sure they can stay open this winter. They are not alone.

This isn’t a minority issue – it’s a majority one.

Even people who would normally see themselves as comfortable are struggling to make ends meet.

All while oil and gas companies rake in billions in profit.

And the Tories slash taxes for those who need it least.

Because while Scots are struggling, neither of Scotland’s governments are doing anywhere near enough to help.

That is why across the UK we demanded an energy price freeze and a meaningful windfall tax.

In Scotland we’ve called for an emergency cost of living act which would:

Freeze rents and ban winter evictions
Cancel school meal debt
Slash the price of public transport and put all public transport back into public hands

Given the choice, both governments preferred the comfort of the soundbite to the difficulties of solving the problem.

Don’t believe the Tory spin – they have not frozen energy bills.

Bills will still go up and families will pay double what they did just nine months ago.

At the same time, they’re letting the big energy companies off scot free and cutting taxes for the wealthiest.

For the last year, Labour have set the agenda on the cost-of-living crisis.

While the SNP and the Tories tried to ignore it altogether.

Until it became clear they couldn’t.

Labour called for energy price rises to be cancelled.

Our opponents called for business as usual.

Until they couldn’t.

Labour called for a windfall tax for the oil giants.

The SNP sided with the Tories and refused to vote for it.

Until they backtracked.

And when Scottish Labour called for a rent freeze, the SNP and the Greens called it ‘unworkable’.

Until they gave in and introduced it.

Conference – if this is what we can achieve from opposition, just imagine what we will do in Government.

For the last 12 years we’ve had a Tory government which has actively sought to pit community against community.

They wasted billions of pounds of taxpayer cash on dodgy contracts, vanity projects, and giveaways to party donors.

They’ve cut stamp duty for second home-owners and made super tax deductions for the biggest companies.

They accept poverty and misery as the price worth paying for a society that redistributes wealth, but from the poorest to the wealthiest.

We were right to cheer the removal of Boris Johnson, who shamed the office of Prime Minister, but Liz Truss is worse than Boris Johnson.

He didn’t believe in anything, apart from himself.

Liz Truss is a right wing, ideological Tory. She is more dangerous than Margaret Thatcher.

Let’s be clear this a corrupt, lying, incompetent, failing, cheating, economically illiterate, morally bankrupt shower.

And the sooner we boot them out the better.

The truth is that far from being the great defender of the UK, the Tories are a gift to those who want to break us apart.

In Scotland, the Tories’ failings have allowed the SNP to double down on their campaign of division rather than face up to their own record of failure in Scotland:

More than 700,000 on an NHS waiting lists – that is 1 in 7 Scots waiting for appointments and treatment

More than 10,000 children and young people waiting for mental health appointment

20,000 fewer business in Scotland today than when the pandemic began

The highest drug deaths rate in Europe and our NHS on its knees despite the incredible efforts of the workforce.

After 15 years in power, the SNP have squandered every chance.

Broken promise after promise.

And left Scotland worse off than when they came to power.

Always someone else or something else to blame.

Conference, you know what I know, there is nothing progressive about Scottish nationalism.

It goes against the values of solidarity and social justice.

It is an ideology based on what divides us, not what unites us.

Times of crisis should force us to look with fresh eyes at the problems we face, unite our communities, and propose real solutions – ones that can help us today, and build prosperity in the future.

That’s what Labour is focused on.

Because while our opponents thrive on division, we know that real change comes when you pull people together.

But in Scotland and across the UK, our politics has lost sight of that.

I hate to break it to Liz Truss and Nicola Sturgeon, whether you voted yes or no, whether you voted leave or remain, your bills are going up.

For too long we’ve been led by parties which want to entrench us into camps and convince us to dislike and distrust one another.

Conference, ask yourself who benefits from the politics of division?

It’s not the family struggling to pay their bills.

It’s not the business fighting to stay afloat.

It’s not the student working to achieve their potential.

It’s not people trying to buy their first home.

The politics of division helps the Tories and the SNP win elections, not change people’s lives.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Our politics can be better.

Our country is better

Our people deserve better.

Because we in the Labour Party know we can only win by bringing people together – by giving them hope, not feeding their despair.

We know there is a majority in Scotland for being part of the United Kingdom.

But there is also a majority for change.

And crucially in Scotland and across the United Kingdom there is a majority to boot the Tories out of Downing Street.

Our job is to build a campaign and the coalition to deliver that.

Not a coalition of political parties.

Let me be clear, no ifs, no buts, no deals with the SNP.

It’s a coalition of the people to beat the Tories.

Working with our trade union colleagues and all those who believe in a fairer, greener future, it is our job to build that coalition to win.

Because that is why we are here.

That is what has motivated us to come from every corner of these islands to the great Labour city of Liverpool.

Our task, to win the next general election, is to end that politics of division and demonstrate how we change our county.

Because it isn’t enough that the Tories or the SNP deserve to lose – we need to deserve to win.

To do that we need to prove ourselves worthy of the trust of that majority who want to renew our United Kingdom.

So that we can:

Protect workers and invest in public services.

Unlock Britain’s potential–to create the high skilled high paid jobs of the future.

Support struggling businesses-to actually grow our economy.

Invest in green technology–to bring down energy bills and save our planet.

And take on the crony capitalists who rig politics in their favour.

And instead we will make Britain a country where ambition and merit matter again.

That is the difference Labour will make in power.

For more than a decade, the SNP and the Tories have stoked up bitterness, division, and anger – creating a politics of us versus them.

But conference, we know those days are numbered.

The occupiers of Downing Street and Bute House know the clock is ticking.

So, let’s be prepared for what lies ahead.

In the coming months and years, our opponents will get more desperate.

Their tone more irrational.

Their attacks on us more unhinged.

That is because they know, what we know…the next electoral contest will not be a referendum, it will be a General Election.

And conference,

Labour will win the next general election.

And Scotland will deliver the seats to get us over the line.

Scotland will elect Keir Starmer as its next Prime Minister.

Because only Labour can replace the Tories and change lives for the better.

Conference,

This is our moment to build a country where everyone is entitled to dignity,

This is our opportunity to set our country back on the path to prosperity.

This is our chance to help everyone achieve their potential.

The time for divide and rule is over.

The time for change is now.

Labour will deliver that change – and will build a better future.

And we will do it, together.