ANAS Sarwar has claimed he understands why many Scots voted Yes in 2014, “especially when they didn’t believe Labour could win”.
Writing in the Daily Record, the Scottish Labour leader said he believes many Scots were looking for an “escape route” from this “rotten Tory government”.
Labour are miles ahead of the Tories in the polls with it looking increasingly likely that Keir Starmer will become the next prime minister.
Sarwar said: “I can understand why Scots have wanted to run a million miles away from this rotten Tory government and many have looked for an escape route.
“I can understand what drove many Scots to vote SNP in the past – and why so many voted Yes in 2014 – especially when they didn’t believe Labour could win.
“That’s why Keir Starmer and I have worked tirelessly over the last few years to change our party, to earn your trust and earn your support so that we can change our country.
“Over the last 14 years people have become fed up with a Westminster system – run by the Tories – that does not work for them and does not deliver the change they desperately demand.
“A Tory-run Westminster system degraded by the endless scandal and sleaze. That’s why this election is an opportunity Scotland cannot afford to miss.
“Labour can win again – we can lock the Tories out of Downing Street and we can deliver the change our country so desperately needs.”
Sarwar’s comments come after the Sunday National revealed that new analysis showed Labour would be signed up for spending cuts worth the equivalent of paying the wages for Celtic Football Club for the next 312 years.
Elsewhere, John Swinney (above) has also urged Labour to explain where £18 billion in cuts predicted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies will come from.
Sarwar added in his column: “Scotland can make sure we get rid of the Tories and that the next government is a Labour one.
“That’s why so many people who voted for the SNP in the past are now turning to Scottish Labour to deliver that change.”
