SIR Keir Starmer said Labour would “weather the storm” and deliver for Scotland as he vowed to defy the national gloom and help Anas Sarwar win at Holyrood in 2026.
The Labour leader slammed John Swinney and the SNP’s failures in government and told voters the Nats chiefs were “out of excuses”.
The Prime Minister was speaking at the last day of the Scottish Labour conference in a rain-sodden Glasgow where he blasted the SNP for using Westminster grievances as a “cop-out, an excuse, an alibi for basic incompetence and failure”.
He said: “We cannot underestimate just how little faith there is, from working people most of all that politics can still deliver this for their family, because it hasn’t.
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“Not here in Scotland with the SNP. Not in Britain with the Tories, and not, if we’re honest, in many places in the world recently.
“But do not doubt that this project is right for our times. Do not doubt – that we will weather the storm and deliver for Scotland and Britain.
“If the question of this era is whether politics can serve the interests of working people, then this era demands a Labour answer, a Scottish answer.”
The Prime Minister’s 30-minute keynote speech at the SEC in Glasgow continued Scottish Labour attacks on the SNP as they seek to rebuild lost support.
Decisions to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners, refusing to compensate Waspi women and hike employer National Insurance contributions have sparked fury among voters and businesses.
Mr Sarwar has labelled missteps during the first troubled months as “teething problems” – but insiders admit the party has lost support, particularly with older people.
But Sir Keir used his address to focus attention on the First Minister and blast the SNP’s record in government – but faced several half-empty rows of seats at a less-than-packed main conference hall.
And he defiantly told delegates he believed Labour’s record of delivery in seven months was better than the Nats’ 18 years.
He told delegates: “I always said it would take time to turn this ship around.
“But I will contrast our record in seven months, versus their nineteen years any day of the week.
“While the SNP whinge and look for someone to blame, we roll up our sleeves, we put in the cash, we do the work, we get results. That’s our message of change – what’s theirs?”
And he said the Nats were using devolution and Holyrood as an excuse for Scotland’s public services being in crisis with schools plummeting in international league tables and the NHS struggling to cope with record waiting lists.
The Prime Minister said: “I believe in the power of the Scottish people to shape their future, but devolution should never be exploited as a cop-out, an excuse, an alibi for basic incompetence and failure.
“And the failure in Scottish schools, in Scottish public services, that’s down to the SNP and it is high time they took responsibility.”
Starmer also said he hoped to give Scots “more security” and “more confidence” amid an uncertain international world and a spluttering economy.
INDY REF UPDATE
BY CRAIG PATON
THERE will not be an independence referendum within the term of the next Holyrood parliament even if the SNP maintains power, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said.
Polls have shifted markedly in recent months ahead of next year’s Scottish Parliament election, moving from predicting a Labour lead to suggesting the party could instead suffer its worst result since devolution.
However, if the SNP wins again in 2026 and a pro-independence majority returns to Holyrood, the UK Government still will not grant an independence referendum, Mr Sarwar said.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Show on the final day of his party’s conference in Glasgow, Mr Sarwar said Scottish Labour would “prove the pollsters wrong” in 2026 and win the election.
He added there would be “no independence referendum in the term of the next parliament” and that other issues should take priority.
“We believe the focus of the next parliament has to be clearing those NHS backlogs. Having that national emergency, the focus has got to be stopping the government’s addiction to waste.”
Labour will fight to “win the trust of the people of Scotland” and win the election, he said, adding: “On the issue of the referendum, people will see over the course of the last four years,
“I’m not going to turn my back on any Scot in terms of how we build that case for a stronger, better Scotland,” he said.
“We might ultimately disagree on the final destination for Scotland: I don’t support an independence referendum, I don’t support independence. That will be the position in our manifesto.”
And in a rallying cry ahead of the next Holyrood election, the Prime Minister insisted his party would deliver change that “working people of Scotland can feel”.
He added: “That is how we must win again – in 2026 and make Anas Sarwar the First Minister of Scotland in a Britain that puts working people first.”
The speech comes as Scottish Labour and Anas Sarwar face a mountain to climb in the polls – with their support having slumped since Starmer entered Downing Street in July last year.
Prior to the General Election, Mr Sarwar’s party was level-pegging the SNP on the race for Holyrood, but have plummeted to 17 points behind in the most recent polling from Norstat.
The Scottish Labour leader has admitted he has a “mountain to climb” to win in 2026 – and told The Scottish Sun last week that he believe he was being wrongly written off by pollsters who he said would have “egg on their face” come results day next May.
EXPERT ANALYSIS
Scottish Sun Political Editor CONOR MATCHETT has his say on the Scottish Labour conference....
THE Prime Minister was welcomed to Glasgow with a typical west-coast downpour.
It was perhaps the welcome to the Scottish Labour conference some in the audience felt he deserved after an appalling first few months in Downing Street.
But his speech was one aimed at turning around what some believe is a sinking ship.
This was a defiant, at times angry blast across the bows of John Swinney and the SNP.
And it offers, alongside Anas Sarwar’s speech on Friday afternoon, the building blocks for how Scottish Labour will fight the next election.
The Prime Minister slammed the SNP’s reliance on Westminster grievance and reminded voters exactly who is in charge of our struggling public services.
And despite the problems of his first few months in power, he pointed out that Labour has done more in seven months than the Nats have in 18 years.
It is a message that could prove telling when push comes to shove and voters are asked whether they really, actually, genuinely, want another five years of SNP failure.
But this is Labour on the warpath – and not just over Ukraine – with a Prime Minister determined to deliver a thumping victory come 2026.
And speaking to reporters afterwards, the Prime Minister also attempted to dismiss the party’s struggles in the polls – despite experts like Sir John Curtice blaming his leadership for their slump.
Asked whether a defeat for Scottish Labour would be his fault, Starmer said: “Since I’ve been in government I’m focused on delivering for the people of Scotland.
“I don’t get up and start rummaging around opinion polls. [Anas and I] have not even discussed the polls.”
Scottish Tory deputy leader Rachael Hamilton blasted Sir Keir for failing to include a “word of apology” for the broken promises since he was elected.
She said: “Labour has cut winter fuel payments, brought in a huge NI tax on jobs, and reneged on their promise to reduce energy prices.
“In Scotland, the party has lined up to vote with the SNP on their worst policies, like gender self-ID and the Hate Crimes Act.
“It’s no wonder that voters are deserting them in droves.”
