Pakistan origin Anas Sarwar becomes Scottish Labour party leader
- By Web Desk -
- Feb 27, 2021
A Pakistan-origin member of Scottish Parliament (MSP) Anas Sarwar has been elected the new leader of Scottish Labour in a snap election right after former leader Richard Leonard resigned from the post less than three months before next Holyrood elections.
Leonard led the party for three years until he resigned in a surprise move and left the field open for Glasgow MSP Sarwar to over less than three months before the scheduled elections.
Anas Sarwar has become the first leader of a major political party in the UK hailing from minority ethnicity.
It is the greatest honour of my life to be elected leader of @ScottishLabour.
I will be a leader that focuses on what unites us as a country – not what divides us. pic.twitter.com/Gu08Sx0TNl
— Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) February 27, 2021
Soon after he assumed the leadership of Scotish chapter of Labour Party, Anas Sarwar said the party under his leadership would “focus on what unites our country, not what divides it”.
“I want to say directly to the people of Scotland, I know Labour has a lot of work to do to win back your trust. Because if we’re brutally honest, you haven’t had the Scottish Labour party you deserve,” Sarwar said in his address following victory.
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Anas Sarwar has been a political enthusiast from an early age as he became a member of the Scottish Labour party at the age of 16.
Politics runs in his blood for his dad Mohammad Sarwar was the UK’s first ever Muslim MP and until, his son Anas succeeded him in 2010, he had held the Glasgow Central seat for Labour since 1997.
Sarwar graduating from the University of Glasgow, Mr Sarwar worked as a dentist in Paisley for five years prior to becoming a MP.
The 37-year-old was the Glasgow Central MP from 2010 to 2015 and was firmly in the Gordon Brown camp of New Labour.
He concluded, “I’ll work with all our diverse communities in Scotland to rebuild the country we love.”