'Scotland needs Anas Sarwar as first minister,' Ian Murray claims

"Scotland needs Anas Sarwar as first minister," Ian Murray has claimed.

In a speech which hailed the UK Government's support for Grangemouth, where the closure of the country's only oil refinery is set to close around 400 jobs, the Scottish secretary told delegates: "We got rid of one of Scotland’s two rotten governments. Next May we can do it again and set Scotland on a new direction with Anas Sarwar in Bute House and Keir Starmer in Downing Street.

 "No hidden agendas, no stupid games in which one government tries to out-manoeuvre the other – Labour governments, working together in a new partnership, delivering for Scotland."

The speech took place on the same morning that members of Unite the Union protested outside the SEC venue, accusing Labour of presiding over a "Grangemouth catastrophe".

Delegates at the 2025 Scottish Labour conference 

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has come under fire for his pre-election pledge that his party would "step in to save the jobs at the refinery", putting in "hundreds of millions of pounds" in the process.

Owners Petroineos are set to cease refinery operations at the site by the end of June.

In his conference speech, Murray said: "This government is delivering for the communities where the Tories left only broken promises.

"We have delivered new local growth deals, with £25m for Argyll and Bute, and of course £100m for the Falkirk and Grangemouth deal.

"We are also putting £26m into the Forth Green Freeport, with Grangemouth at its heart, to attract investment and well paid, quality jobs to the area – a Labour government, investing for growth in every part of Scotland."

Murray branded First Minister John Swinney "tough on nurses, soft on millionaires", saying: "The first minister christened himself ‘full on John’ – conference, I think he’s full of something else.”

Hailing Labour's performance on GB Energy, Universal Credit and pensions, he went on: "John Swinney’s government simply belongs to a different era – a failing first minister at the heart of a failing government since 2007."

He added: "Scotland simply cannot afford to enter a third decade of the SNP."