Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar is poised for a peerage and a ministerial role in Andy Burnham’s new government.
Sources say that Mr Sarwar will be elevated to the House of Lords and is expected to join the revamped Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, headed by Jonathan Reynolds.
This development follows Mr Burnham’s recent Cabinet unveiling, which saw a clear-out of loyalists to his predecessor, Sir Keir Starmer, and precedes a raft of further ministerial appointments.
Mr Sarwar, who has led Scottish Labour since 2021, was an early advocate for Sir Keir’s resignation in February.
He recently lauded Mr Burnham’s "bold Labour vision" as the new Prime Minister entered No 10 this week.
— Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) July 20, 2026
Mr Burnham called for unity told his Cabinet he will lead a “cost-of-living Government” after announcing an £850 million tax cut on electricity bills on Tuesday.
No 10 said the Cabinet meeting reflected “a sense of a united team, a new sense of energy, and a second chance at a first impression.”
His first policy reflected the focus on helping hard-pressed people, but questions were raised about how it was being funded and whether the £45 a year it will save households is worthwhile.
The Government said the electricity bill VAT cut would be funded in part by scrapping Sir Keir’s digital ID project, which had been estimated to cost about £600 million a year over three years.
That falls short of the estimated £850 million hit to tax revenues from the VAT cut, and funding for digital ID was meant to have come from unidentified Whitehall savings.
Downing Street has insisted the plan is fully funded.
At Cabinet, Mr Burnham sat opposite his new Chancellor John Healey, and was flanked by Cabinet Secretary Dame Antonia Romeo and Education Secretary and deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell.
The Labour leader said the Cabinet he had assembled, after purging allies of Sir Keir, “reflects the party, the country, all backgrounds”, and told those who had survived the clear-out to take it as a “major vote of confidence”.
