In his Daily Record column, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar says the choice at the election is between him or John Swinney as First Minister.
Anas Sarwar (Image: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty )
We are heading into one of the most important years in our nation’s history. In just four months’ time, people across Scotland will make a decision that matters more than any slogan, any grievance, or any tired constitutional rerun.
A choice that isn’t about Westminster personalities. It isn’t about Keir Starmer or Nigel Farage. It’s about Scotland. And it’s about who runs it.
For the first time in almost 20 years, there is a real opportunity to change the government of Scotland. To turn the page. To do things differently. And yes – that is exactly what I intend to do.
Our ambition is clear and unapologetic: to win, to elect a new First Minister, and to form a government that finally gets Scotland moving again. I won’t pretend this is easy. Scottish Labour starts this year as the underdogs – and everyone knows it.
But across the country people are crying out for change, for a government that works as hard as they do and gets the basics right. This SNP government has had nearly twenty years to fix our NHS, our schools and our economy.
And what do people see in their daily lives? Hundreds of thousands waiting for appointments or treatment on our NHS.
One in six young people locked out of work, education or training. Public services under strain, communities left frustrated – and the same old message on repeat: just wait a bit longer, vote SNP one more time, and everything will somehow turn around.
I don’t accept that. And neither should you.
This election is about our hospitals and care homes. Our colleges and universities.
Our towns, cities, villages and islands. It’s about opportunity for our young people and security for our families.
This is a campaign about rebuilding our nation together. Not talking Scotland down. Not blaming others. Not lowering our ambitions.
That means a campaign on a scale we’ve never run before.
And over the festive break you might have already noticed.
In the last week over 1 million homes have received a magazine from Scottish Labour setting out Scotland’s choice.
And we are unleashing the most sophisticated and largest digital operation of any party in Scotland – where we will reach 1 million Scots every week demonstrating Scotland’s choice.
Because ultimately there are just two choices.
A third decade of the tired SNP with John Swinney as First Minister or new energy, new ideas and new leadership for Scotland with me as First Minister.
Everything else and everyone else is just noise.
NHS FAILURES
The NHS is under pressure(Image: Getty Images)
Behind the SNP’s tired slogans and spin, the truth is brutal: cancer patients are being left to wait, worry and suffer.
One Scot waited 419 days just to start investigations for suspected prostate cancer.
Another waited 352 days with possible bowel cancer.
That’s not a backlog – that’s abandonment.
While ministers boast, families count the days, the weeks, the months, praying the disease hasn’t spread while the clock ticks on.
The rules are clear. Two months to be seen. One month to start treatment.
Yet patients are waiting a year. Some longer.
And for those already diagnosed, the nightmare continues – eight months for prostate cancer treatment, over three months for breast cancer.
Imagine being told you have cancer, then being told to wait. And wait. And wait.
This didn’t happen overnight. The SNP hasn’t met its own cancer treatment targets in over a decade. Diagnostic waiting lists are climbing again – more than 150,000 Scots stuck waiting for vital tests. Every delay risks lives.
Our NHS staff are heroes, but they are exhausted and overstretched by SNP failure.
This is not inevitable. It is political choice.
Scottish Labour will use every ounce of capacity to cut waits and save lives. Because when it comes to cancer, delay is deadly – and Scotland deserves better.
WORLD CUP JOY
Scott McTominay(Image: SNS Group)
I have already stated that 2026 will be one of the most consequential years in a long time.
Beyond politics one of the things I can’t wait for is to cheer on Steve Clarke’s Scotland side at the World Cup this summer.
I remember those games in 1998 like they were yesterday – and the chance to make new memories.
I’m sure the boys will do us all proud!