Anas Sarwar visits Dear Green Coffee Roasters

The Scotsman

GLASGOW. Dear Green Coffee Roasters, 13-27 East Campbell Street, GLASGOW, G1 5DT  Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar meets  Dear Green Coffee founder, Lisa Lawson for a tour around the premises.   @AnasSarwar Ready for parliament to start again next week. But first, coffee.

Transcript

00:00Kirstarmar mentioned that maybe 10 years before there's a proper recovery, Winter 11's been

00:23withdrawn. Potentially more pain to come. Do you think that adversely affects Scottish

00:28economy? Well I think people can see that we've had 17 years of economic incompetence

00:33and carnage from the Tories and that a Labour government is getting on with fixing that

00:38mess and sorting the fundamentals from which we can grow, both grow our economy, meaning

00:43more successful businesses, higher paid jobs and more jobs in our economy, but also then

00:48the fruits of that economic growth in order to reform our public services that are there

00:52for people when they need them. And we're getting on with that work. We say what the

00:56first steps were in our manifesto. We're moving fastly with those first steps. But

01:01we've still got work to do and I think people can see that this is now a government that's

01:04on their side. A government that's not pretending they can fix every problem straight away,

01:09but they can see that that process and journey of change has begun and it's only possible

01:13because we have a UK Labour government and we have a Prime Minister in Kirstarmar that

01:17believes in public service and believes in putting the national interest first before

01:21party interest. I think that's for everyone to see and I think that's welcomed by people

01:25right across the country.

01:26If there's further cuts and there's further pain, would you agree that it would make your

01:30job more difficult in 2026?

01:32Well, we've got two things to do. One, we've got to fix the mess left by the Tories. We're

01:36getting on with doing that job. But we can't ignore the mess that was currently being presided

01:41over by this SNP government. They have created a black hole of their own because of their

01:46incompetence, because of their financial mismanagement and because of their waste. And that is meaning

01:51cuts here in Scotland, made in Scotland and delivered by Scottish government. That means

01:56taking away, for example, teachers for working class classrooms here in Glasgow. It means

02:01taking away money from the creative industries who are a key part of that growth strategy

02:06for Scotland. It means in-year budget cuts for many of the portfolios that require fundamental

02:11change here in Scotland. This has all been presided over by an SNP government. That's

02:16why we've started the process of changing the UK. In 2026, we're going to start changing

02:21Scotland.

02:22Do you think 2026 is the best opportunity for Labour since the SNP switched any power?

02:27Well, look, we've had 17 years of opposition here in Scotland. We've won our first election

02:32in a very long time here in Scotland, where we won 37 seats at the general election to

02:37the SNP's nine. But we've still got work to do. And the same energy, humility and hard

02:43work that I've shown over the last three and a bit years since I became leader, that ramps

02:46up now. It doesn't slow or stop now. Because I am determined to serve the people of Scotland.

02:52That's why I'm doing this job for. It's because I want to change Scotland, serve Scotland

02:56and deliver for the people of Scotland.

02:58Would you win to abolish it with the Tories and the flip-flops?

03:02Well, look, we're going to seek to win the election in 2026. We're going to seek to form

03:06a minority government. It's been done before. The SNP did it very successfully in 2007.

03:11People will recall. And then they went on to win a majority in 2011. And people can

03:17see since then the SNP has lost its way and the carnage and destruction they've made of

03:21our public services and our finances here in Scotland. So we are going all out to win

03:25that election. We want to form a minority government after that election. But of course,

03:30if there are individual ideas, if there are good ideas and good projects that people bring

03:35forward to that parliament that come from individual politicians or other political

03:39parties, I will not turn my back on that because I want to make sure that in Scotland

03:43we go back to a politics where we work together when it's in the national interest and deliver

03:48for the people of Scotland.

03:49I'll be very clear. No coalitions. No deals.

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