Anas Sarwar promises ‘new direction’ as he attacks SNP record

Anas Sarwar has attacked the SNP’s record in government as he promised a “new direction” under Scottish Labour.

In a new year speech at the University of Glasgow, the Scottish Labour leader said the SNP had “weakened every institution” in the country during its 18 years in power.

And he criticised the government’s record on education, health and crime, while promising to end what he called Scotland’s “quango culture”.

“The harsh truth is that Scotland 2025 is a nation where the SNP has weakened every institution,” he said.

 “Where every public service is straining after almost two decades of SNP Government control. And where Scots are shelling out more of their hard-earned cash to get less. In short our country is stuck.”

Sarwar was speaking at the same time as First Minister John Swinney delivered a new year address in Edinburgh.

Swinney has warned that should Labour and other parties at Holyrood fail to support the government’s budget, it could fuel the “forces of anti-politics and populism”.

Sarwar said that after almost two decades in power, the SNP had broken its promises to the Scottish people and “blown” its chance to deliver.

He added: “That’s why over the coming year we will remind them time and time again of their failures, but more importantly, we will demonstrate to people in Scotland what a new direction will mean in practice – how it will deliver for them and their family.

 “In each area of responsibility for the Scottish Government, we will demonstrate the consequences of their incompetence and set out what a Scottish Labour Government would do differently.”