Anas Sarwar: Scottish Labour won't do any deals or 'stitch ups' with Reform
Mr Sarwar ruled out any coalitions or deals with Nigel Farage’s party
Scottish political leaders have kickstarted their campaigns for next month’s Holyrood election by taking aim at Reform UK.
Anas Sarwar strongly rejected suggestions he will try to do a “grubby backroom deal” with Reform to get into power after the vote.
The Scottish Labour leader said there would be no coalitions, deals or “stitch ups” with Nigel Farage’s party. He said he would not “touch” Reform, which he accused of previously targeted him with “horrific” adverts questioning his Scottish identity.
Earlier, First Minister John Swinney raised the prospect of a deal between Labour and Reform as he argued only an SNP majority would “lock” Mr Farage out of any influence in Holyrood.
Polls currently suggest Reform could be the second biggest party in the Scottish Parliament after the election on May 7, meaning Mr Sarwar would potentially have to rely on its votes in any bid to become first minister.
"Let me make it absolutely fundamentally clear," the Scottish Labour leader said. "No coalitions, no deals, no stitch ups. We are not going to touch Reform because they are a distraction in this election campaign, not the alternative in this election campaign.
"The only thing Reform can do is create the noise and help keep the SNP in power and the only thing I'm interested in is getting the SNP out of power and delivering a new government and change for Scotland and we are going to go out and win that together."
Mr Sarwar made the comments while addressing activists and candidates at Barras Art and Design in Glasgow on the first day of the Holyrood election campaign.
Mr Swinney earlier told an SNP event at the Citizen's Theatre in Glasgow that his party would put forward "a fundamentally positive vision for the future of our country".
He said: "Be in no doubt. Depending on how the numbers stack up after the election, without an SNP majority, there is always a potential for a grubby backroom deal between Labour and Reform.”
Responding to this claim, Mr Sarwar told journalists: "John Swinney should perhaps look at the horrific adverts that Reform did about me, questioning my identity, questioning my loyalty to my country Scotland.
"He should be frankly ashamed of himself by trying to pretend there is some kind of association between me and Reform. What this is, is a trick from John Swinney.
"John Swinney wants to talk about Reform and he wants to talk up Reform because he doesn't want to talk about his record and he doesn't want to talk about the consequences of 20 years of John Swinney and the SNP on the great people of Scotland.
“There is only one campaign that can beat the SNP and reject Reform and that is the Scottish Labour campaign."
Last year, Reform was criticised for a social media advert during the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election which claimed Mr Sarwar would “prioritise the Pakistani community".
A spokesman for the Scottish Labour leader described the video, which included clips from a 2022 speech he had given at an event celebrating the 75th anniversary of Pakistan's independence, as "blatantly racist".
The advert was also criticised by the SNP and other opposition parties.
Elsewhere, Mr Sarwar defended a candidate embroiled in an internal row over alleged voting irregularities. Irshad Ahmad, Labour’s candidate in the Edinburgh North Western constituency, has been the subject of claims he systematically signed up allies in order to be placed top of the regional list.
A letter is now understood to have been sent to Kate Watson, the party’s general secretary, by local Labour officials raising concerns about Mr Ahmad and accusing him of doing “little to no work”.
Asked about this, Mr Sarwar said: “All our candidates are working flat-out with one ambition and one ambition only - to win and return a Scottish Labour government.
“I’m proud of each and every single one of them. I know how hard each and every single one of them are working, and we are not going to miss the opportunity of changing the government on May 7.”
Mr Swinney said an SNP majority would deliver the “greatest prize” by gaining “the right for Scotland to decide our own future in a referendum”.
But at a campaign event in Edinburgh, Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay pledged to “throw the kitchen sink” at stopping an SNP majority.
“It’s a simple choice,” he said. “It’s the potential of the nightmare scenario of an SNP majority. John Swinney already thinks he’s got this in the bag, or you can vote Scottish Conservative on the peach ballot paper to stop him.
“We stand up for the common-sense people of Scotland, we stand up for people who work hard and do the right thing. We can stop the SNP.”
Addressing candidates and party activists, Mr Findlay added: “Over the next 42 days, trust me when I say I am going to throw the kitchen sink at it – I’m going to work tirelessly, and I know that each and every one of you is too.”
He also took aim at Reform, saying the party's sole MSP Graham Simpson - who defected from the Conservatives last year - was "running away at the first sign of gunfire" after he was pursued by journalists through Holyrood on Wednesday facing questions over a crass “joke” made by party leader Malcolm Offord .
Mr Findlay said three things would happen over the next six weeks: the SNP's record in government would be scrutinised by voters, Reform would "come under the spotlight", and his party's record would be put to voters.
Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer, who was also campaigning in Edinburgh on Thursday, said his party was the “best placed to stop Reform gaining MSPs on the regional list” section of the vote.
He told voters: “If you are somebody who believes in a progressive Scotland and you know that things need to change, the Greens are the party for you. No-one else is representing that kind of progressive change any more.”
Meanwhile, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said his party could deliver “change with fairness at its heart” for voters.
“I’m bursting with excitement for the campaign ahead,” he said. “I will be travelling all over our country letting people know that the Liberal Democrats are winning again, with more councillors, a record number of MPs and more to come.”
Reform did not hold a campaign launch event, and broadcast interviews with its Scottish leader Malcolm Offord were reportedly cancelled.
Meanwhile, a Reform candidate who called Humza Yousaf “Islamist” and “not British” stood down. Linda Holt, who was the party’s candidate in Fife North East, said she was standing down “due to a lack of support from the party”.
Ms Holt said: “Due to a lack of support from the party, I am withdrawing my candidacy for Reform with immediate effect. I thank all those who have supported me, and I wish the remaining candidates well.”
It came less than 24 hours after Reform UK announced its list candidates.
Ms Holt was placed eight on the Mid Scotland and Fife list - meaning she would almost definitely not get a seat.
As she was very unlikely to win her constituency it effectively ruled out her chances of becoming an MSP.
Ms Holt is the fourth Reform UK Holyrood candidate to stand down in less than a week.
She had branded former SNP first minister Mr Yousaf a “grandstanding Islamist moron”, “a brown FM” and “not British”.
In another post, Ms Holt said Scotland didn’t have a “British first minister” while Mr Yousaf was FM. He was born in Glasgow, lives in Dundee and is of Pakistani heritage.
Ms Holt, a taxi firm co-owner, wrote: “His background means his allegiances are naturally, even rightly, elsewhere but not with the vast majority of Scots.”
She was defended by Scottish Reform leader Malcolm Offord last weekend.
When asked if he had ever described people in the same way that his candidates had, Mr Offord told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show: “Look, I'm not getting into all the individual candidates.
“We have got 80 per cent of our candidates are not politicians. That means they're not scripted. They're real people with real opinions.
“And people in the life say things they might use intemperate language, but we're not here to judge that.”
When asked about Ms Holt’s tweet referencing Mr Yousaf’s skin colour, he said: “I think that was the timing of that was probably just immediately after the October 7 attack, and I think he was using some provocative language.
“I'm not going into the rights and wrongs of it. These, these things happen online, and the issue with today in the modern world is this is all now recorded and registered and brought back.”
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