Independence ‘won’t drive young people’s thinking’ in 2026 election
Young voters will not be driven by the constitutional question at the next election, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has said – as he stressed it would take “hard work” but he could be First Minister in 2026.
Speaking to journalists on the final day of the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow, Mr Sarwar said the younger voters eligible to cast a ballot in 2026 would have been four years old during the independence referendum campaign and would probably have other issues as their political focus.
Mr Sarwar – along with UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer – sought to bring the party back to the centre ground during the three-day conference, shifting away from the leaderships of Jeremy Corbyn and Richard Leonard, emphasising the party’s “pro-business, pro-growth and pro-jobs” stance.
“If you think about the election in 2026, today’s 12-yearolds are going to have a vote on who the next First Minister is,” he said.
“Those same 12-year-olds would’ve only been four at the referendum in 2014. Are we honestly saying that generation are going to base their politics on what happened when they were four? No, they’re not.
“They’re going to base their politics on what politicises them, what energises them, what enthuses them right now and over the next four years as well.”
Mr Sarwar went on to say that young people have shown
more “hunger for a new type of politics”, adding: “Their form of aspiration is really, really different from my generation and our parents’ generation.”
He also said young families, and in particular young mothers, would be a key target for his party.
Meanwhile, the Labour leader said his “strong personal view” would be for Labour councillors not to enter into formal coalition with other parties, but that they work
with other groups on “individual decisions” to solve local issues.
Elsewhere, the fact that, during last year’s election campaign, only Nicola Sturgeon could credibly claim she would be First Minister after the vote was an “embarrassment for our national politics”, Mr Sarwar said.
“I want us to be in a credible position that when we go into that election in 2026 … I want to be able to put my hand up
when that question comes. But it requires us to do the hard work necessary over the next four and a bit years so we can credibly do that and have a chance of doing that.”
Meanwhile, Mr Sarwar said his party stands against “any form of hate” after it was announced a former senior Orange Order member would be running for the party in May’s local council elections.
Henry Dunbar served as Scotland’s most senior Orange
Order member between 2010 and 2016, and was the most senior in the world from 201518.
Mr Sarwar said: “I don’t choose the candidates, local parties do, but what I expect of every single candidate regardless of their background is for them to abide by Labour Party values and principles and that includes a zero tolerance on all forms of tolerance of hate.”