Another term of the Conservatives in Downing Street would be an “unbearable nightmare”, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said.
Mr Sarwar addressed party members at the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow on Friday as he sought to rally them ahead of the general election expected this year.
In a speech with few concrete policies, Mr Sarwar emphasised the differences between his party, the Tories and the SNP as he also looked ahead to the Holyrood election in 2026.
“Far-right crank test”
Rishi Sunak’s Tory party, he said, is pushing closer to the “far-right crank fest”, and he described the Prime Minister and his predecessors Liz Truss and Boris Johnson as “charlatans”.
Mr Sarwar said: “The Tories are so mired in scandal and division and chaos that their MPs are too busy trying to find a way to save their own skin rather than focusing on the huge challenges facing our country.
“While they seek to divide communities from each other, they also seek to divide us between haves and have-nots.
“They have crashed the economy – and put the UK into recession.”
He accused the UK Government of “financial mismanagement on a monumental scale”.
“Unbearable nightmare”
In an impassioned plea to activists, the leader said: “Just imagine five more years of these Tories.
“Imagine five more years of Jacob Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel, Lee Anderson, Liz Truss, Suella Braverman and Rishi Sunak.
“What an unbearable nightmare.
“So it falls to us – and only us, the Labour Party – to bring back hope for our country, and the sooner we get rid of this entire shower of Tories, the better.”
With his party riding high in the polls ahead of the general election and narrowing the gap with the SNP ahead of the Holyrood poll in just over two years, Mr Sarwar said Labour’s job is “only starting”.
If elected at Holyrood in 2026, he pledged to be “responsible” with public money, claiming the SNP has been “reckless” – pointing to the delayed and over-budget ferries at Ferguson Marine and the near-£11,000 data roaming bill racked up by former health secretary Michael Matheson.
Mr Sarwar also pledged to pass on “every penny” of the expected £134 million in annual funding to Scotland from ending the non-dom tax status to the NHS if he becomes first minister, and to reform the planning process.
Related: Lord Heseltine: Leaving the EU ‘an act of self-annihilation’