SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar has made "an open and big offer" to work with the SNP Government.
In a speech broadcast online, Mr Sarwar also accused the Conservatives of pushing voters into the hands of the SNP.
He insisted Scottish Labour is "well and truly back on the pitch" despite the party losing two MSPs.
Mr Sarwar made the comments following the Holyrood election, which saw the SNP narrowly miss out an overall majority.
It won 64 seats (up one), the Conservatives 31 (no change), Labour 22 (down two), the Greens eight (up two) and the Liberal Democrats four (down one).
Mr Sarwar said First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had promised a "relentless focus" on the coronavirus recovery.
He said: "We are going to hold her to that promise.
READ MORE: Final Scottish election results: Live updated maps and charts
"You cannot attempt to lead half the country through a campaign but also deliver a recovery that works for everyone. That is simply not credible.
"So I am making an open offer, and a big offer, to all political parties across Scotland, but in particular an open and big offer to the SNP.
"Yes, we will disagree on the issue of the constitution, but we cannot allow that one issue that we disagree on to paralyse our politics and stop us making positive progress together."
He said Labour will work with others to build a recovery and a "stronger, fairer, greener nation".
Mr Sarwar said he wanted to "push the Scottish Government and Nicola Sturgeon further".
He pointed to the looming economic crisis, the impact of the pandemic on childrens' education and problems in the health service, as well as issues such as child poverty and the climate emergency.
He called for "the biggest, boldest, most ambitious job creation scheme in the history of our parliament", as well as "mass interventions into our economy".
Mr Sarwar said he wanted Scotland to build "once again, the greatest education system anywhere in the world".
Addressing the Tories, he said: "Your campaign actually pushed people into the hands of the SNP.
"Your direct choice to make this election campaign a straight dividing line between Yes and No didn't help to reunite our country – it has only helped to further divide it."
He insisted he was "not willing to fall for that divide".
READ MORE: Scottish independence not the priority of the Scottish people at the moment - Ian Murray MP
Mr Sarwar said voters had sent a clear message to Scotland's political parties to "focus on the recovery, not a referendum".
He said Scotland's future is "not a game" and decisions over the coming months and years will "shape the kind of country we are for a generation".
He said Labour is building a "credible alternative" to the SNP.
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