THE SNP and Conservatives are both "compromised" in their ability to lead Scotland's recovery after the pandemic, Anas Sarwar has said. 

The Scottish Labour leader said the SNP are "blinded by their one priority", while the Tories have "no ideas". 

It came as he said he will put his own name on the ballot paper in May to "express confidence" when voters go to the polls. 

One of the slogans will read: “Anas Sarwar - Labour’s National Recovery Plan."

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It is thought to be the first time Scottish Labour have put a leader's name on the ballot paper.

Mr Sarwar was talking to journalists on the first day of campaigning ahead of the Holyrood election on May 6.

He said: "We want to put the national recovery plan front and centre of this election campaign, and also I'm demonstrating confidence as well. 

"I know Nicola Sturgeon's put her name on the ballot paper. I know in previous elections Ruth Davidson's put her name on the ballot paper. 

"I want to express confidence in putting my own name on the ballot paper as well, and give people a direct choice between going back to the old arguments, or a new kind of politics, a different kind of leader and a different focus for our parliament as we come through and recover from Covid."

Mr Sarwar said that while the Tories and the SNP "can talk about recovery, they're both compromised". 

He said: "The Tories are compromised because they can't deliver a recovery that works for everyone, because they would have us go back to the failed system we had pre-Covid.

"We had in-built inequalities in our economy and in our society pre-Covid, partly designed by Tory failures. 

"Those inequalities have been exacerbated by Covid, and they want to take us back to that."

Mr Sarwar said the Tories have "no ideas in this campaign", but simply an "angry response on one side of the constitutional debate".

He added: "On the other hand you have the SNP, who will try and talk about recovery. 

"But it's not credible to say we're going to come through Covid and go straight into a referendum campaign, which is going to pull our country further apart again. 

"They cannot focus on a recovery that pulls our country back together.

"They can't focus on a recovery that unites our country. They are blinded by their one priority."

He said Labour "can make a credible case to people across Scotland that we don't have to go back to those old arguments, we don't have to fight with each other like we have done for the last five years". 

Mr Sarwar dismissed the Tories' suggestion of an alliance with Labour to stop the SNP as "playground politics". 

He said he had never properly spoken to Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross.