Scottish Labour “lost a generation of talent” after the independence referendum wilderness years, Anas Sarwar has said, with potential candidates doing “something else with their lives.”

Speaking at a fringe event at the party’s conference in Liverpool, the MSP said he was also worried Scots voters might be “complacent” about the prospect of him becoming First Minister at the Holyrood election.

He said the leadership, the organisation and the membership could never take the outcome of the vote for granted, as they “have the scars.”

“We're the Scottish Labour Party,” he said. “Our history shows we can't afford to be complacent, and if we get complacent, we'll lose.”

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Labour's position as the dominant force in Scottish politics was upended by the 2014 referendum, with support for the party collapsing at the general election less than a year later. 

They went from 41 MPs to just one.

However, in July's election, they returned 37 MPs and recent polls suggest they could be the biggest party in Holyrood after the vote in 2026.

Mr Sarwar warned delegates that the result was “not a done deal.”

He added: “I think people are sick of an SNP government, but that doesn't mean they'll automatically come and vote for us. So we have to project what difference we would make if we actually elected a Scottish Labour government.

“But there's another dichotomy in the question, if you think back to the election in 2007 and in particular the election in 2011, the SNP played up optimism on their chances of winning, and the presumption that they would win as a way of pulling even more people across in support.

“Because one of the things I think fundamentally gets missing in politics, and it's partly in Labour’s DNA, where we down sell rather than up sell, is people like to vote for the winner, and people like to be on the winning side.

“They do in their life, and they do in politics. We've got to demonstrate we can win. And the last UK election, we demonstrated that we would win across the UK, and people supported us.

"We've got to demonstrate that in 2026 but do it in a way that doesn't sound complacent.”

Asked if he was worried that the party would not have enough high-quality candidates, given that many of the party’s most familiar faces were elected to Westminster, Mr Sarwar said he and his colleagues needed to “inspire” people to come forward.

He said when the party started selections for Westminster seats, they struggled to get more than one or two candidates coming forward for each vacancy. But the closer they got to election, they had 12 or 13 hopefuls vying for each seat.

Mr Sarwar said a significant part of his job was “developing the pipeline of talent for the future as well.”

“And if we're honest with ourselves, from a Scottish Labour perspective, given our years in the wilderness, I think we lost a generation of talent who decided to go and do something else with their lives.

“But I think if you can see from the quality of our MPs and the quality of people that are coming forward, people realise that actually politics is no longer something to shy away from.”

Mr Sarwar is due to address the main hall of the conference today, where he will tell delegates Scotland is being “held back” by an SNP.

He will say that the story of Labour’s revival is “only half-written”.

He will add: “When Scotland most needs change, fresh leadership and new ideas – all the SNP offers is internal division and outward incompetence.

“The same tired people in power peddling the same old excuses.

“Frankly, it’s time up for the SNP.

“They are a party that has lost their vision and lost their way.”

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SNP Depute Leader Keith Brown said the Scottish Labour leader “must think people in Scotland are zipped up the back” if he believes they will vote for his party, which he said is inflicting “billions of pounds of cuts on Scotland whilst lining their own pockets with donations and freebies”.

He added: “The only person Scottish Labour is delivering for is Keir Starmer – meanwhile Labour is cutting winter fuel payments for over 800,000 pensioners, pushing over 87,000 children into poverty by failing to scrap the two child limit and hammering Scotland’s public services by continuing Westminster austerity cuts.

“It’s no wonder the Labour Party is collapsing in the polls as voters can see they are simply picking up where the Tories left off.

“The SNP will continue to demonstrate why we are the only party who can be trusted to deliver a better future for Scotland by using the limited powers of devolution to improve the lives of people across Scotland and deliver of their priorities.”

Scottish Conservative party chairman Craig Hoy said: “Scotland has been left in a total mess after 17 years of SNP rule – with public services crumbling while hardworking Scots are paying more tax for poorer outcomes.

“The notion of Scottish Labour representing real change is blatantly false, because on a host of issues you can’t fit a cigarette paper between them and the SNP.

“Anas Sarwar has chosen to back the SNP on gender self-ID, the illiberal Hate Crime Act, tax rises and has also turned his back on the oil and gas sector.

“Now with the SNP following the Labour Government’s lead to remove winter fuel payments for many pensioners it’s almost impossible to tell the two parties apart.”

He added: “Only the Scottish Conservatives will stand up to the cosy left-wing Holyrood consensus by delivering on Scotland’s real priorities, such as restoring our NHS, delivering energy security, supporting our flagging economy and reforming our education system.”