Anas Sarwar: ‘A seismic shift is underway – Scots won’t settle for the status quo’

2023 will always be remembered as the year when a seismic shift in Scottish and UK politics began.

Our by-election victory in Rutherglen and Hamilton West proved that Scottish Labour has once again become capable of going toe to toe with the SNP at the ballot box.

The politics of division is in retreat and the idea that things cannot get better is being left behind.

The SNP and the Tories want people to settle for the status quo – an NHS in chaos and a low-growth, low-pay economy.

But Scots rightly want and expect more – they want change.

I believe that Scottish Labour can ensure that 2024 is the year we deliver that change, and at conference this week in Glasgow we will set out our vision for Scotland.

We’ve had years of stagnation

Our plan starts with Scotland’s economy.

Years of stagnation have left Scots poorer and starved the public purse of tax receipts. The SNP is attempting to use income tax as a sticking plaster to cover for their failures, insisting that Scots who earn over £28,500 have “the broadest shoulders”.

Not only is this hitting Scots during a cost of living crisis, but it is not a sustainable way to fund and modernise public services.

Scottish Labour will focus on growing Scotland’s economy to create jobs and produce the opportunities that our country needs.

Without strong economic growth we will not have the funds needed to improve our vital public services, which have been left to crumble by both the SNP and the Tories.

I am delighted to welcome so many fantastic Scottish businesses to this year’s conference and I am looking forward to engaging with them on our plans to deliver the economic growth that our country needs.

We’ll make in-work poverty a thing of the past

2024 can be the year we deliver the change Scotland needs.

Let’s make that change happen together.

pic.twitter.com/aSVttoEsck

— Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) February 14, 2024

Scottish Labour will support businesses and workers, because that is how we build a stronger and fairer economy.

Right now we can see all too clearly what happens when our economy doesn’t work for working people.

Too many workers are dealing with low pay, facing in-work poverty, and working on insecure contracts.

That’s why we will introduce a New Deal for Working People and make work pay.

Exploitative Zero-hour contracts and the scandal of ‘fire and rehire’ will be scrapped; workers will have stronger day-one protections against unfair dismissal, parental leave, and sick pay; and a real living wage to make in-work poverty a thing of the past.

We shouldn’t rely on tyrants’ energy resources

Scottish Labour recognises the challenges that our environment faces and the changes that are required for Scotland to reach a cleaner, greener future.

GB Energy – a publicly-owned energy generation company headquartered here in Scotland – will deliver tens of thousands of new, clean energy jobs.

It will reduce bills, create jobs and deliver energy security so that Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom never again has to rely on the energy resources of tyrants.

We will renew our public services

We will also renew our public services after 17 years of mismanagement and decline. Every single institution in Scotland has been left weaker by the SNP, and nowhere is that clearer than our NHS.

On the SNP’s watch our NHS – the finest achievement in Labour government history– has been allowed to crumble.

With an overstretched workforce and an ever-growing patient waiting list, bold changes are required.

That’s why Labour will close the non-dom tax loophole and use the funds to renew our NHS and drive down waiting lists.

We can boot out the Tories and put the SNP on notice

These are our priorities and they will be at the heart of the next UK Labour government – and they will be our priorities as we look ahead to the Scottish Parliament elections in 2026.

My message in Glasgow this weekend will be simple: this is the year we can boot the Tories out of Downing Street and put the SNP on notice.

We believe we have the ideas and policies to reverse the damage inflicted on our country by decades of SNP incompetence and Tory economic illiteracy.

We are ready to get out there to take our ideas to the people of Scotland.

Change is possible, and together we can deliver it for Scotland.

Read more of LabourList’s Scottish Labour party conference 2024 coverage from our editor in Glasgow:

• Watch and read Keir Starmer Scottish Labour speech: ‘The power to build a new Scotland is in your hands’
• Scottish Labour Conference 2024: Sarwar speech key highlights
• Scottish Labour target seats on ‘absolute knife-edge’ despite by-election triumphs
• Ian Murray: ‘We all want same thing’ as ceasefire march hits Labour conference
• Scottish Labour conference vote and protest for Gaza ceasefire heap pressure on MPs
• Anas Sarwar writes: ‘A seismic shift is underway – Scots won’t settle for the status quo’