A Labour victory in Thursday’s general election will demonstrate to the world that the UK can turn the tide on the far right and be a “beacon of hope”, the leader of the party in Scotland has said. With 48 hours to go before polling day, Anas Sarwar was hammering home key messages on Scottish concerns including the cost of living, NHS waiting lists and low pay across the nation. Polls show the party could stage a Lazurus-like return after being left with just one Scottish seat in the 2019 general election. Sarwar was on the campaign trail in Inverclyde, a bellwether marginal seat on the west coast and a former Labour stronghold before the SNP’s stunning power grab in 2015 after the independence referendum of 2014. “We have just two days in which to make sure we get rid of the Tories, two days to deliver the change our country needs and two days to ensure we have Scotland at the heart of a Labour government,” said Sarwar.
Labour is hoping to romp home on Thursday night with more than 30 seats across Scotland, including the former shipbuilding and manufacturing Inverclyde constituency. “This is the first opportunity we’ve had in 14 years to finally get rid of a government that’s done so much damage to our country,” said Sarwar. He repeatedly told reporters that it was vital to understand that a vote for Labour would return Scotland to the centre of politics in Westminster, participating in government rather than as a second-rank opposition party with insufficient muscle to change laws. It was also a chance to repair the UK’s standing on the international stage, he said, and offer alliances with countries such as Germany and Spain, where left-leaning governments are being dented by the rise of the far right “It allows us to show that we can be a beacon of hope for the rest of the world,” he said. “The national interest of all our countries is really important. We are absolutely concerned about these reactionary divisive forces that seem to be rising across the country [and Europe],” he said.
As part of the “reset” of the EU-UK relationship that Keir Starmer has pledged, Sarwar said he would push for “brand Scotland”, increasing trade for iconic brands such as salmon and whisky. With the 2019 general election delivering the Labour party’s “worst result since 1910”, Sarwar insisted the party had “worked hard” to regain trust. “It shows the scale of challenge since the last general election when we came in fourth place,” he said. “Over the past three years, we’ve worked really hard to change our Labour identity so we can look people in the eye with credibility and humility and hard work and energy,” he told reporters. Meanwhile, the SNP’s leader and Scotland’s first minister John Swinney urged Scots to back his party to avoid “more austerity cuts from Westminster” as he claimed the election was on a “knife-edge”. “There are just two days until polling stations open and, across Scotland, the result is too close to call,” the first minister said.