The winner of the SNP leadership race will have no mandate to govern as first minister, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has insisted.
Speaking to BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show, he repeated his call for a snap Holyrood election. Nicola Sturgeon has dismissed the suggestion, saying she won a mandate for the SNP. Her successor as SNP leader will be announced on Monday, before being confirmed as first minister on Tuesday. The contenders are former minister Ash Regan, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf and Finance Secretary Kate Forbes.
Scottish Parliament elections normally take place every five years and the next vote is expected in May 2026. But at Ms Sturgeon’s final First Minister’s Questions last week, Mr Sarwar said an early election was needed as her successor would not have a mandate from the public. Pressed on the issue on The Sunday Show, the MSP said it was a matter of principle.
And he pointed to SNP reaction to Jack McConnell – now Lord McConnell – becoming first minister in 2001, having being elected leader of Scottish Labour unopposed.
He said: “If you look at what John Swinney said when Jack McConnell became first minister having not having won an election, he said it was a stitched up deal behind closed doors and a party arrogant in power. He added: “If you look at what Nicola Sturgeon said when Rishi Sunak came to power without an election, she said it was a democratic imperative for him to have a mandate.
“This is an SNP that screams about mandates – let’s be honest, the next SNP first minister will not have the mandate.
“They’ll have Nicola Sturgeon’s record, they won’t have Nicola Sturgeon’s mandate – a mandate given to her in a pandemic election when she asked people to support her for five years to get her through the pandemic and lead us to a national recovery. National recovery hasn’t even started yet and we’ve got this clown show happening right across our country.”
At Holyrood last week, Ms Sturgeon rebuffed her opponent’s claims about a mandate. She said: “I fought three general elections as SNP leader and the SNP has won all of them. At every one we’ve heard the same messages from Labour and at every single one the people of Scotland has cast their verdict.
On Sunday a SNP spokesperson said: “The SNP won the Scottish Parliament election with a record share of the vote, less than two years ago, in May 2021.
“The next first minister of Scotland will be chosen by a vote of MSPs, as it was when Nicola Sturgeon and former Labour party first ministers Jack McConnell and Henry McLeish succeeded their predecessors”. Mr Sarwar told the BBC that his call for a snap election shows how much Scottish Labour has changed.
“We used to fear elections, now we relish elections. I relish the next general election and I relish the next Scottish Parliament election,” he said. At a time of “crisis” in the NHS and a cost of living crisis, he said he was confident that the party could make the case for change.
“We have two governments that are out of touch, out of control, arrogant and we need change in this country, and I am confident about making that case. Live coverage of the leadership result will be on BBC One Scotland from 13:45 on Monday and live on the BBC Scotland news website.
Source: BBC
