ANAS Sarwar has been formally endorsed by more than of his party’s elected parliamentarians to be the next leader of Scottish Labour.
The Glasgow MSP has received signed nominations from 12 of the 23-strong group at Holyrood and Scotland’s sole Labour MP, Ian Murray.
Labour peer George Foulkes is another supporter.
Mr Sarwar, the early favorite to replace Richard Leonard, has also been backed by the shopworkers’ union Usdaw, the UK’s fifth largest trade union.
The nominations come on top of backing from over 70 Labour councillors, more than a quarter of the total, as the “candidate best placed to help rebuild the Scottish Labour Party, to transform us into a credible opposition and a party that is fit for the future”.
Mr Sarwar’s rival for the leadership, central Scotland MSP Monica Lennon, is understood to be revealing her MSP and union backers tomorrow.
The two candidates are due to have a virtual hustings before MSPs this evening.
Mr Sarwar said: “I’m honoured to have the backing of Usdaw and would like to thank all the parliamentarians, councillors, members and trade unionists who are supporting my campaign.
“I am determined to rebuild our party and the Labour movement, so that we can rebuild Scotland for everyone.
“Over the coming weeks I will be putting my vision to members and I’m looking forward to a friendly and positive campaign that demonstrates the very best of our movement.
“More than ever, our party and our country needs political leadership that will bring people together.”
Stewart Forrest, Usdaw Divisional Officer, said: “Usdaw members, their families and working people across Scotland need a strong Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament and across the country, speaking out for them on their issues.
“With the election coming in May, it is crucial that Scottish Labour has a leader who can hit the ground running, bring the party together and put a positive message to the country. We believe that Anas Sarwar is the right person to do that and take us forward.”
Nominations for the leadership close at noon on Tuesday.
Mr Leonard equity last Thursday with immediate effect after three years in which he signally failed to connect with voters, and oversaw two disastrous electoral reversals.
Under a fast-track system, party members will choose the next leader by February 27, ahead of the Holyrood election campaign starting in earnest in March.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel