Labour's Anas Sarwar delivers new year speech

"It is genuinely brilliant to be here.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and a good break, as we embark on one of the most consequential years in Scotland's history.

A year in which we have the opportunity to change the government in Scotland for the first time in almost 20 years.

And let me be clear from the outset, this is exactly what I intend to do.

Our ambition this year is to win and to elect a new First Minister and to form a new government for Scotland.

But let me talk to you openly about the challenge of the coming months.

I get that, as Scottish Labour, we start this year as underdogs.

But I say to John Swinney and anyone else who says we cannot win, whether they are other politicians, journalists, commentators or pollsters:

Underestimate me.

Underestimate the people in this room.

Underestimate the thousands across the country at your peril.

I am not daunted by the challenge.

We are up for the fight,

and we are determined to win.

Today I am going to set out why I believe we will win and how.

But let me first say that I understand why we find ourselves in the position we do, and I am clear-eyed about the challenge we face.

I know that across Scotland people are angry, frustrated and impatient with the pace of change at Westminster.

I do believe that no Labour Government at Westminster, however well intentioned, principled or capable, could have undone the damage of two decades in just two years.

The UK Labour Government has many meaningful achievements which they need to shout louder about, but it is also fair to say that they haven't got everything right.

And there are many challenges they still must confront.

I get it. I don't just see it. I feel it across Scotland.

I know the Prime Minister and the UK Labour Government are not popular with the public right now.

So, I am not running to be Scotland's First Minister in denial of that truth. I am running to be Scotland's First Minister in defiance of it.

Because over the next four months I will be making a case to the people of Scotland that, despite what John Swinney and the SNP tell you, this election is not about Keir Starmer, Westminster or Nigel Farage.

It's about Scotland.

Four months. That is what we have.

Four months until the people of Scotland make a choice.

So to my fellow Scots I say this: in four months you can decide a different, bigger and more important question than how much you like or dislike the UK Government.

In four months you will choose who leads Scotland's government.

It is not an election that will choose a government elsewhere, but one that will decide what happens here in our home, Scotland.

It is not an election without consequence or about protest, but about the direction our country takes.

Now our opponents will want to make this election about anything other than who is standing here or what is happening here.

But this election is about our schools, our hospitals and our care homes.

It is about our colleges and our universities.

It is about Scotland's towns, Scotland cities, our villages, our islands.

It is about our young people, their opportunities and your families.

This election is about our country.

It is about Scotland's choice.

Because in May you are not choosing a UK Prime Minister. You are choosing Scotland's First Minister.

In May you are choosing what kind of country you want to live in for the coming five years.

Like most Scots, I believe that this tired SNP Government is bad enough that it deserves to lose.

But my challenge, and my responsibility, is to prove in the four months ahead that I, and Scottish Labour, are good enough, that we deserve to win.

Now, there is a temptation, when talking about how Scotland is governed, to simply say, “I am going to stop the waste and run things better”.

Goodness knows we need that. Our politics is stuck and our nation is in trouble.

But my candidacy for First Minister is based on an understanding that this is not enough.

In a Scotland where one in six of us are on NHS waiting lists, and where one in six young people are out of work or education, that is not good enough.

The SNP have had their chance. They have had nearly 20 years. They blew it.

So as First Minister I am offering competence, but I am also offering change.

I get that in these tough times, when money is short and people are cynical about the capacity of politics to improve their lives, my offer of change might sound ambitious or idealistic. Well I plead guilty to both.

That is who I am and why I am standing to be First Minister.

I am standing because I have the energy, the ideas, the values and above all the love and belief in my country Scotland that we can be better.

So over the next four months I am inviting you to be part of a campaign to deliver a better Scotland.

I believe our nation works better when our Government focuses on what, as a country, we can do, rather than what we can't do.

Unlike our opponents, my instinct is to think “let's rebuild this nation together” rather than “they are to blame”.

As 2026 begins, the SNP seem intent on constructing an ever lower ceiling of possibility for our nation.

They are telling people this is as good as it gets. That all we deserve is failing public services and a promise on repeat that everything will be better with independence, if only they had another five years after almost twenty.

So I stand here as a candidate for First Minister refusing to accept that this is as good as it gets,

and standing as a candidate for First Minister on a platform and a promise that our national life can be better than this.

Our economy can be better than this.

Our public services can be better than this.

Our politics can be better than this.

Scotland can be better than this.

In four months, Scotland will make a choice.

Scotland's choice.

Scotland's choice between the SNP's record of failure on the NHS, or my plan to clear the backlogs, end the 8am rush for a GP appointment and make our NHS fit for the future.

Scotland's choice between the SNP's record of falling standards in our schools, or my plan to back teachers, make schools safe and guarantee opportunity for every young person with 9,000 more apprenticeships.

Scotland's choice between the housing emergency created by the SNP, or my plan to end rough sleeping and build the homes Scotland needs.

Scotland's choice between the SNP's soft touch on crime, or my plan to build safe communities with at least 360 officers returned to the frontline in our neighbourhoods.

Scotland's choice between the failures of the past with John Swinney or a better future with me as First Minister.

I believe that in the months ahead I can persuade the people of Scotland to shift the lens from the problems at Westminster to the possibilities here in Scotland.

Whether I achieve that ambition will go a long way to deciding whether I also achieve my ambition to be Scotland's First Minister.

I know people ask why I carry hope in my heart as we begin 2026.

They ask why I believe we can persuade our fellow Scots that Scottish Labour offers a better future for our nation.

My answer is simple.

As leader of Scottish Labour, and as candidate for Scotland's First Minister, I do not stand alone.

I stand alongside the hundreds of thousands waiting in avoidable pain on an NHS waiting list.

I stand alongside the thousands of brilliant NHS staff who feel burnt out and under-supported.

I do not stand alone.

I stand alongside the thousands of parents who feel their children have been let down and locked out of opportunity.

I stand alongside the thousands of families stuck in temporary accommodation without a home to call their own.

I do not stand alone.

I stand alongside communities who feel unsafe, where crime is rampant and no police officer is in sight.

I stand alongside the thousands of victims of crime who feel the system is designed to hurt them, not support them.

I do not stand alone.

I stand alongside the many people frustrated after two decades of the SNP in Government and who are desperate for a change.

I do not stand alone.

I stand alongside the millions of our fellow Scots who yearn for a better tomorrow.

I do not stand alone.

I stand alongside each and every one of you who believe in something bigger than ourselves, who are willing to do the hard work and who are determined to win and determined to change our country.

But friends, millions of our fellow Scots feel frustrated and politically homeless.

Let us be honest, if the election were held today the undecideds would win in a landslide.

That is where we begin this year.

That is both a heavy responsibility and a huge opportunity for Scottish Labour.

Because this campaign must be, and this campaign will be, the vehicle for the people of our country to realise their hopes and dreams for a better Scotland.

Because friends, there are now two types of politician in our country.

One sees a problem and thinks not about how to fix it, but how to use it to divide our communities and our country.

The other sees a problem, sets out to fix it and brings our country together in the process.

The SNP and Reform - they both play the politics of fear and blame.

I believe in the politics of hope and unity.

Now, what of Reform?

I do not underestimate the challenge of Reform, because the leading political narrative winning elections around the world today is to tell people that “those people” are the reason for the pain in their lives.

I do not underestimate that challenge, but confronting and defeating Reform is a responsibility I relish.

Because Reform are not interested in fixing Scotland.

They want to profit from frustration.

They want to divide communities and walk away from responsibility.

The truth is Nigel Farage does not care about Scotland. He does not understand Scotland and he does not want to fix Scotland.

All Reform can do is help the SNP win.

That is why John Swinney is so determined to talk them up.

Yes, we must defeat Reform. But my ambition is bigger than that.

I want to build something better here in Scotland.

But we must confront the reasons pushing people towards Reform.

When people feel ignored, when services fail, and when trust drains away, it creates space for those who want to divide us.

I know people are angry and frustrated.

I will never dismiss people's fears or sneer at their concerns.

But I will never exploit them either.

Instead, my promise to each and every one of you is this: I will do the hard work and earn your trust.

Before the new year, I promised this would be the biggest, boldest and most ambitious campaign to change Scotland in our political history, and I meant it.

So let me tell you what that means.

One million.

In the last week, over one million homes have received our magazine setting out Scotland's choice.

We are unleashing the most sophisticated and largest digital operation of any party in Scotland, reaching one million Scots every week.

As we showed in Hamilton, we have the largest and most effective ground campaign of any party, and between now and polling day we will have one million conversations about Scotland's choice.

And over the holiday period we raised almost £500,000, meaning we have an election fund sitting at £1 million, and rising.

Every penny will be used to make clear Scotland's choice this May.

One million.

But ultimately, just two choices.

A third decade of SNP failure with John Swinney as First Minister,

or new energy, new ideas and new leadership for Scotland with me as First Minister.

Everything else is noise.

I am the only candidate standing to beat the SNP and replace John Swinney as First Minister.

So the choice Scotland makes in four months matters.

John Swinney wants to make this election about anything but his record.

He wants to make it about a government somewhere else, not the government here.

If he believes in his record, he should defend it.

I believe in my vision for Scotland, and I am happy for it to be tested.

That is why I am challenging John Swinney to not just leaders' debates, but head to head First Minister debates, one in every region of Scotland.

Each debate focused on a key responsibility of the Scottish Government.

So we can debate the SNP's record of failure on the NHS, and my plan to fix it.

So we can debate falling standards in schools, and my plan to raise them.

So we can debate the housing emergency, justice, local government, transport and the economy.

I have the hunger, I have the energy, I have the ideas, I am up for the challenge, is John Swinney?

Because that is the choice Scots face.

On May 7th, this election is not a verdict on two years of a UK Labour Government that this election wont replace.

It is a verdict on two decades of an SNP Government you now can replace.

So let's be clear.

In four months Scotland has a choice.

The past or the future.

Excuses or solutions.

Division or leadership.

John Swinney and the SNP who broke Scotland.

Or a Scottish Labour First Minister who will work as hard as you do to fix it.

Scotland's choice.

So join this campaign and

Choose hope.

Choose ambition.

Choose change.

Now let's get to work.

And let's win this for Scotland."