Don’t let Farage and Reform divide us, Labour’s Sarwar urges Holyrood leaders

The Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, has warned other Scottish political leaders not to spend the next Holyrood parliament “shouting about Nigel Farage”, saying his job is to ensure there is a credible opposition at Holyrood “that holds the SNP’s feet to the fire”.While the Scottish National Party won a fifth successive Holyrood victory and ended up with 58 MSPs, Labour had its worst result since devolution in 1999, tying for second place with Reform UK as both parties secured 17 MSPs.Speaking for the first time since he conceded defeat on Friday, Sarwar said he did not believe it was Reform’s intention to do anything more than create division, and he said he would work with other political parties in the Scottish Parliament that shared his views.Interviewed on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Sarwar refused to be drawn on speculation about Keir Starmer’s future as Labour leader and batted away questions about his own position, saying: “I’ve got a job to do and I intend to do it.”He said: “If we think the next parliament is all about shouting about Nigel Farage, that only serves the purpose of those who want to use politics to divide us. We need the parliament to make sure it’s actually getting things done for people in Scotland, and that’s holding the SNP government to account and making sure they deliver the promises that they make.“I don’t believe Reform can do that, I don’t think it’s their intention to do that. And it’s my intention, working with other political parties who share those same views, to make sure there is a credible opposition that holds the SNP’s feet to the fire.”The results mean Reform’s Scottish leader, Malcolm Offord, now has the right to ask the opening questions at first minister’s questions, while Reform could get committee convenership posts.The SNP is seven seats short of a majority, meaning it will have to rely on other parties to pass legislation. On Saturday the SNP leader, John Swinney, pointed to previous successful budget negotiations with the Greens and the Liberal Democrats, and said the party had worked constructively with the Tories and Labour in the past.But all parties have ruled out working with Reform, and Swinney said he would not invite its representatives to Bute House for talks as he would the leaders of all other Holyrood parties in the coming week.On the same programme, Reform’s deputy leader in Scotland, Thomas Kerr, said Swinney and Sarwar were ignoring the electorate and accused them of “political posturing before we’ve even set foot in the chamber”. He said: “It’s ridiculous, it’s anti-democratic.”There has been some speculation that Reform may try to augment its Holyrood group with a further defection from the Tories to push Labour into third place, but on Saturday Offord reiterated Farage’s vow not to have any further Conservative defections. “We’re happy with the 17 that we’ve got,” he said.Kerr told the Sunday Show his party was “not interested in making sure everybody is media-trained”. He defended Senga Beresford, newly elected in South Scotland, who previously stated her support for Tommy Robinson and for the deportation of Muslims, saying her posts had been taken out of context.Reform's Thomas Kerr said his party was ‘not interested in making sure everybody is media-trained’. Photograph: Robert Perry/Getty ImagesThe Scottish Greens co-leader Gillian Mackay was asked on the programme about Q Manivannan, one of her Edinburgh MSPs, who is studying in Scotland on a student visa. The Scottish Parliament recently passed legislation to allow people without permanent leave to remain to stand in elections. Mackay said she was confident Manivannan’s visa process would be completed during the term of the next parliament.Earlier on the programme, the SNP’s Màiri McAllan pointed to “the single largest pro-independence majority” in the parliament’s history, combining SNP MSPs with the Scottish Greens’ 16 MSPs, their best ever result.McAllan said the UK was “hurtling towards Nigel Farage as prime minister” and that Scots “must have the power to protect themselves from that”.On Saturday, Swinney confirmed he would table a draft bill next week calling for Holyrood to be given the powers to stage a second independence referendum, a document that will have no legal force while the UK government continues to refuse Holyrood the powers to do so.