The Scotsman’s Deputy Political Editor speaks to Anas Sarwar about turning Glasgow red in the general election and what it means for the independence campaign.

The Scotsman

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00:00David? Today is obviously a very historic day for Glasgow. The central belt was the

00:06first rebel, you've been saying this since you became leader, that the first rebel that

00:10fell was the central belt. What does this mean for people in the central belt and what

00:15change can they see immediately? You set out your first sort of few steps, but what immediate

00:20change will people see with the Labour government? Well, first of all what people are going to

00:23see is an end to the chaos and the division of the Tories, an end to the sleaze, an end

00:29to the corruption, an end to ministers and a prime minister who believe it's about them

00:33putting their party before the country and getting up to all sorts and people can see

00:38that for themselves. And what they're going to see instead is a Labour government and

00:42a Labour prime minister that's determined to pull our communities together and deliver

00:46for people rather than pull communities apart. And I don't think you can downplay the significance

00:50of that. And then what we're going to get to work straight away on is delivering that

00:53investment we need to see to grow our economy, delivering that budget later in the year that's

00:58going to deliver that additional money for our schools and our hospitals. We're going

01:03to get on straight away with implementing GB Energy, a publicly owned energy company

01:06that can generate jobs, opportunities, bring down people's bills as well as generate energy

01:12in the future. All of these things, the New Deal for Working People, we're going to get

01:16cracking with it so we can give that pay rise to over 200,000 Scots. But we have always

01:20said that is not the height of our ambition, that's not the height of our potential as

01:24a country. We have so much more we'd like to do but we are being responsible, only making

01:29promises we know we can keep. But we want to under-promise and over-deliver and that

01:33work starts today. Does tonight's pretty terrible results for the SNP put an end to the independence

01:39campaign? That mandate surely is gone now. Is this the end of the argument for the time

01:43being? Well look, I want to say directly to people who voted yes or voted for the SNP

01:49in the past or who even may even vote for independence at some point in the future,

01:53I want to thank them for putting their faith and trust in the Labour Party. I'm not going

01:56to turn my back on anybody across this country, that's not the approach I've taken in the

02:00last three years. That's why so many people who have supported independence have backed

02:05Labour in this election and I want to work for them to deliver yes, a competent UK Labour

02:10government that's working in their interests but also a competent Scottish Labour government

02:14that's working in their interests too. Because whether you voted yes or no, whether you voted

02:18leave or remain, you're stuck on those NHS waiting lists, you're being failed by our

02:22education system, our criminal justice system's not working for you, businesses aren't able

02:26to thrive. That can all change now that we've turned the page on the Tories and now we're

02:31on that journey for change in 2026 too.

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