Anas Sarwar | |||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Leader of the Scottish Labour Party | |||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 27 February 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Jackie Baillie | ||||||||||||||||||
| UK party leader | Keir Starmer | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Richard Leonard[a] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Acting 24 October 2014 – 13 December 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||
| UK party leader | Ed Miliband | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Johann Lamont | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jim Murphy | ||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 17 December 2011 – 13 December 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Johann Lamont | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Johann Lamont | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Kezia Dugdale | ||||||||||||||||||
| Shadow Minister for International Development | |||||||||||||||||||
| In office 5 November 2014 – 8 May 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Ed Miliband | ||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Alison McGovern | ||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Mike Kane | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Scottish Labour portfolios | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2018 | Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport | ||||||||||||||||||
| 2020–2021 | Shadow Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution | ||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1983-03-14)14 March 1983 (age 42) Glasgow, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Scottish Labour &Co-operative | ||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Mohammad Sarwar (father) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Hutchesons' Grammar School | ||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow | ||||||||||||||||||
| Signature |  | ||||||||||||||||||
| Website | anassarwar | ||||||||||||||||||
Anas Sarwar (born 14 March 1983) is aPakistani Labour andCo-operative politician who has served asLeader of the Scottish Labour Party since 2021. He has been aregional member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) forGlasgow since 2016, having been themember of Parliament (MP) forGlasgow Central from 2010 to 2015.
Born inGlasgow to Pakistani Muslim parents, Sarwar was privately educated at theindependentHutchesons' Grammar School and studied general dentistry at theUniversity of Glasgow. He worked inPaisley as a dentist until beingelected as the MP for Glasgow Central at the2010 general election when he succeeded his retiring father,Mohammad Sarwar. During his time in theHouse of Commons he served asDeputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2011 to 2014.
Sarwar lost his seat to theScottish National Party (SNP) at the2015 general election. He was elected at the2016 Scottish Parliament election on theGlasgow regional list. Having been defeated at the2017 Scottish Labour leadership election byRichard Leonard, he was elected asLeader of the Scottish Labour Party in the2021 leadership election. Sarwar led Scottish Labour into the2021 Scottish Parliament election, which saw Scottish Labour remain in opposition with two fewer Labour MSPs than at the previous election. He was defeated by the incumbentfirst minister,Nicola Sturgeon, inGlasgow Southside but was returned on the Glasgow regional list.
At the2024 United Kingdom general election Labour won with a landslide victory, winning 411 seats across the United Kingdom,[1] with Scottish Labour winning 37 of the 57 Scottish seats in what was also considered a landslide.[2]
Anas Sarwar was born on 14 March 1983 inGlasgow, the youngest of four children. His parents were Perveen Sarwar andChaudhry Mohammad Sarwar.[3][4][5] He attendedHutchesons' Grammar School, aprivate school in Glasgow, before completing a degree in general dentistry at theUniversity of Glasgow from 2000 to 2005.[6] While a student, he joined marches against theIraq War.[7] He worked as an NHS dentist inPaisley from 2005 until 2009.[6]
Sarwar began campaigning for the Labour Party as a child of "nine or ten" and joined the party at the age of fifteen or sixteen.[5][6][7] His father was elected as the Labour MP forGlasgow Govan in 1997, becoming the UK's first Muslim MP.[8] In that year, Sarwar received an envelope containing a threat against his mother.[9] Sarwar served as an executive member ofScottish Young Labour and later joined theCo-operative Party, a party which stands candidates jointly with the Labour Party, as well as theFabian Society, the trades unionsUnite andCommunity, and the pressure groupProgress.[10][11] He served as vice-chair of Progress in 2011.[10]
Sarwar was selected as the lead regional list candidate for theGlasgow Scottish Parliament electoral region for the2007 election.[8] He was a member of Labour'sScottish Policy Forum which was responsible for drawing-up the Scottish Labour Partymanifesto for that election. He was not elected, later saying that standing as a list candidate had been a chance "to prove himself", and that he had had "no chance" of success given his party's success in winning constituency seats under theadditional member system.[5][12]
Sarwar's father announced his retirement as the MP forGlasgow Central in February 2007.[13] Later that year, Sarwar was selected as the Labour candidate for the seat at the2010 general election. Despite Labour's loss of power at that general election, Anas Sarwar emphasised his independence and differentiated himself from his father's politics.The Guardian described him as positioning himself on the "moderate left" of the Labour Party, supporting electoral reform for the House of Commons, reforming the House of Lords to have a majority of elected seats but with some seats remaining appointed, and reducing the scale of the UK's nuclear deterrent. He opposedprivatisation of the NHS but supported the use ofprivate finance initiative schemes to build schools.[5] He won the election with 52.0% of the vote, an increase on the previous vote share and majority.[14][15][16]
He was elected by colleagues to serve on theInternational Development Select Committee. He said that his parliamentary interests included foreign policy and international development, and that he wanted to "use his parliamentary platform to make a difference on" conflicts inPalestine andKashmir.[17] In December 2011, Sarwar waselected asDeputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party receiving 51.1% of the vote.[18] In January 2013, he was awarded the Politician of The Year Award at theBritish Muslim Awards.[19] In 2013, Sarwar took a strong line in attacking both the"bedroom tax" and accused the Scottish Government of failure to mitigate its worst effects. During a vote on its repeal, Sarwar was overseas inPakistan, giving a speech to students atHajvery University, and so waspaired with aConservative MP, cancelling out the two votes. He was criticised for his absence by theScottish National Party.[20][21] In 2014, Sarwar was criticised by SNP politicians for sending his son to Hutchesons' Grammar School, aprivate school and the same school that he himself attended, instead of astate school.[22]
From November 2014 until May 2015, Sarwar served asShadow Minister for International Development.[23] In January 2015, he was awarded the Spirit of Britain Award at that year's British Muslim Awards.[24]
In 2012, he was appointed to co-ordinate Scottish Labour's2014 Scottish independence referendum campaign.[25] The campaign, alongsideBetter Together, was successful, with 55% of the electorate of Scotland voting to stay in the United Kingdom. The Leader of the Scottish Labour Party,Johann Lamont, resigned from the position on 25 October 2014, criticising the attitude of the Labour Party as a whole to the Scottish Labour Party and saying that Scottish Labour needed to be more autonomous.The Guardian reported that she felt like she needed to resign after the general secretary of Scottish Labour, Ian Price, was "removed from office without her being consulted".[26] Several Scottish Labour figures echoed her frustrations. Sarwar defended the UK-wide Labour Party, and said that Price "resigned from his position as general secretary and I think we should respect his position".[26] Following the resignation ofJohann Lamont on 25 October 2014, Sarwar became acting leader until the new leader,Jim Murphy, was elected. On 30 October, he announced his resignation as deputy leader. At the2015 general election, Sarwar lost his seat toAlison Thewliss of the SNP. Following that election, in what was a historic defeat for Labour, they were left with a single seat (Edinburgh South) after half a century of political domination of Scottish seats at Westminster.[27]
Sarwar was elected as an additional member in the2016 Scottish Parliament election for theGlasgow region. In 2016, he was appointed as Scottish Labour's spokesperson for health and sport. Sarwar was opposed toleaving theEuropean Union and said that the UK needed to stay in thesingle market in order to counter the Conservatives' austerity policies.[28] However, onBBC Radio 4 in April 2023 Sarwar, while expressing hope that Labour would do well in 2024 in the wake of theSNP's troubles, ruled out any plan to rejoin the EU, or to join its single market, or to join its customs union.[29] He sought advice from the police after creating a working group onIslamophobia.[7]
In September 2017, he announced he would run for theScottish Labour leadership following the resignation ofKezia Dugdale.[30] He was characterised by opponents as being on the right of the Labour Party and aBlairite, which he repudiated, describing himself as aBrownite.[31] He called theIraq War "the worst foreign policy decision in my lifetime".[32] He expressed support for UK-wide Labour leaderJeremy Corbyn's policies of "a £10 national living wage, public ownership of the railways, higher taxation for the rich and tougher laws on basic wages and employment rights".[31] He proposed a tax rate of 50p for earnings over £100,000 and cuts to income tax for earnings under £28,000, including a new 15p tax rate for lower earners.[33] His campaign emphasised equality over discussions of independence.[7] He defended sending his children to a private school, saying he and his wife had done what they "thought was best for [their] children".[31] Sarwar was criticised by opponents after it emerged that his family firm was advertising job vacancies with pay below the recommended living wage.[34][35] His opponent in the election,Richard Leonard, was on the left wing of the Labour Party. Leonard won the election with 56.7% of the vote. During the 2017 leadership election,Rutherglen councillor Davie McLachlan allegedly said "Scotland wouldn't vote for a brown Muslim Paki". In April 2019, Sarwar's case against McLachlan was due to be heard by the National Constitutional Committee but was dropped on a technicality, as Sarwar had not given his case within the required timescale. Leonard acknowledged the process was flawed and the committee would need to be reformed to avoid similar incidents.[36]
Sarwar was replaced as health and sport spokesperson byMonica Lennon in October 2018.[37] He said he had only learnt of the sacking on the social media platform Twitter.[38] In November 2019, Sarwar was given access to a leaked report from 2015 which had considered infection controls atQueen Elizabeth University Hospital to be at "high risk". 10-year-old patient Milly Main died in the hospital in 2017 from a water infection, while she was there to recover from leukaemia. Sarwar raised the leaked report's findings in a Scottish Parliament debate in which he criticisedNHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde for not closing certain hospital wards despite the report's findings. He requested on behalf of Main's mother, a constituent of his, a response from thefirst ministerNicola Sturgeon.[39] In November 2020, Sarwar was appointed as Scottish Labour's spokesperson for the constitution.[40]
Following the resignation ofRichard Leonard in 2021, Sarwar waselected asleader of the Scottish Labour Party, winning 57.6% of the vote toMonica Lennon's 42.4%.[41]The Guardian described him as a centrist.[42] Despite having criticised Corbyn in the past, Sarwar insisted that his economic plans would be "even more progressive and radical" than those of Corbyn and the former shadow chancellorJohn McDonnell.[43] Sarwar and some reporters said this made him the first ethnic minority person to lead a major UK political party, althoughThe Spectator pointed to political leaders ofJewish descent such asBenjamin Disraeli,Michael Howard andEd Miliband whilst acknowledging he was the firstMuslim and person ofAsian descent.[44][45]
The leader of theScottish Conservatives,Douglas Ross, proposed a coalition of parties supporting Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom, which Sarwar rejected.[7] Sarwar called the United Kingdom "fundamentally broken", and said that there should be more devolution of power from Westminster to Holyrood, and from Holyrood to communities. He also confirmed Scottish Labour's opposition to renewing theTrident nuclear programme.[46]
As the leader of Scottish Labour in the run-up to the2021 Scottish Parliament election, Sarwar pledged to reduce poverty and inequality in Scotland as part of his policy solutions to the aftermath of COVID-19 crisis.[47] In the run-up to the election, the Labour Party removed Hollie Cameron, a Labour candidate who said in an interview that Labour would support a second referendum on Scottish independence depending on timing, contrary to the party's policy. Sarwar was criticised for the decision by figures on the left of the Labour Party.[48]
In March 2022, Sarwar announced a policy of providing free residential care and free home care, alongside increasing care workers' wages to a minimum of £15 an hour.[49] Sarwar supports replacing theHouse of Lords with an electedsenate that would represent nations and regions.[50] In November 2022,Declassified UK said that Sarwar was a member of the lobbying groupBritish-American Project.[51][unreliable source?] In the same month, in an interview withThe Times, he talked about the need for growth in order to deliver policies that improve equality and reduce poverty.[52]
During theIsrael-Hamas war, Sarwar called for an immediate ceasefire, a policy at odds with that of UK-wide Labour leader Keir Starmer.[53]
Sarwar himself ran as both a list candidate and as constituency candidate forGlasgow Southside, which the first ministerNicola Sturgeon represented. The election saw the worst result for Scottish Labour since devolution, with two fewer Labour MSPs returned than at the previous election.[54] Although he was defeated by the incumbent first ministerNicola Sturgeon inGlasgow Southside, he was re-elected as a list MSP.[55] Sarwar ran as aScottish Labour and Co-operative candidate for the first time in this election.[56]
Following the election, Scottish Labour became the third largest party in the Scottish Parliament, behind theScottish National Party who formed the government, and theScottish Conservatives who became the second largest party in parliament. In the 2021 election, Scottish Labour won 22 out of 129 seats.[57][58]
In January 2022, it was reported that the UK-wide Labour leaderKeir Starmer was interested in allowing more supporters of independence to stand as Labour candidates. Sarwar said that candidates would need to stand on a platform of Scotland remaining in the UK, and that "when it comes to Scottish Labour, I'm in charge".[59]
At the2024 United Kingdom general election, Labour won with a landslide victory, winning 411 seats across the United Kingdom,[60] with Scottish Labour winning 37 of the 57 Scottish seats in what was also considered a landslide.[61] Sarwar said "this is a historic day for Scotland and for the entire UK. People are waking up to the news that after 14 years of Conservative government, after 14 years of chaos and division, it has come to an end and Scotland and the UK has elected a Labour government".[62]
Sarwar is married to Furheen Sarwar, who works as anNHS dentist. The couple have three young children.[63][64] He owns a quarter share of his family's cash-and-carry wholesale business; his share was valued in 2016 as worth between £2.7 million and £4.8 million.[65] In September 2017, Sarwar transferred his shareholding to adiscretionary trust for the benefit of his three children, so that he could not personally access the assets or dividends.[64]
He is the president of the Sarwar Foundation, and isteetotal.[66][67]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forGlasgow Central 2010–2015 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party 2011–2014 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the Scottish Labour Party 2021–present | Incumbent |
| International | |
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| People | |
