Tag: Anas Sarwar

Securing Grangemouth’s future

First Minister writes to Scottish Labour Party Leader

Following news the UK Government will invest in Grangemouth’s future, First Minister John Swinney has written to Scottish Labour Party Leader Anas Sarwar inviting him to vote for the 2025-26 Scottish Budget in a “spirit of cooperation” and deliver investment worth almost £90 million to support jobs at the site.

The full text of the First Minister’s letter to Anas Sarwar: Scottish Budget Bill – Grangemouth Industrial Cluster: letter to Anas Sarwar – gov.scot:

To: Scottish Labour Party Leader Anas Sarwar

From: First Minister John Swinney

Dear Anas,

I welcome the response from the Prime Minister to my call last week for the UK Government to provide support for Grangemouth.

I know you share my concern that the decision to close the Grangemouth refinery is premature and fundamentally short sighted and the UK Government’s commitment to additional investment is a step in the right direction. We all have a responsibility to work collaboratively to secure Grangemouth’s long-term future, its workforce and Scotland’s transition to net zero.

My announcement last week that the Scottish Government will make a further £25 million available to enable businesses to bring forward investable propositions for Grangemouth, will be put to Parliament as an amendment at Stage 3 of the Budget Bill tomorrow.

This funding will be made immediately available from the beginning of the next financial year without requiring match-funding.

I hope that when the UK Government provide more details on the announced £200 million being available through the National Wealth Fund that this will also be available for timely deployment on a similar basis as the funding I have set out and that these funds align to best support a just transition for Grangemouth.

In that spirit of cooperation, I trust that you and Scottish Labour colleagues will now be in a position to vote for the Budget at Stage 3 tomorrow and work constructively to deliver the nearly £90 million investment for Grangemouth, supporting the jobs, livelihoods and businesses which depend on it.

Yours sincerely,

John Swinney

Holyrood votes for action on Winter Fuel Payment

UK Government urged to reverse ‘damaging’ decision

The UK Government’s decision to introduce means testing for the Winter Fuel Payment must be reversed, according to MSPs.

Following a debate as part of Challenge Poverty Week, the Scottish Parliament voted in favour of a motion that the UK Government reverse its decision to restrict entitlement to the benefit. Labour MPs Richard Leonard and Alex Rowley supported the motion.

Fourteen Scottish Labour MSPs, including Edinburgh MSPs Sarah Boyack, Foysol Choudhury and Daniel Johnson, voted with their leader Anas Sarwar against the motion.

First Minister John Swinney said that as a result of this damaging decision, Scottish Government analysis indicates roughly 900,000 Scottish pensioners will no longer be entitled to support with heating costs this winter.

Commenting after the debate, the First Minister said: “More austerity is not the solution to the restrictive fiscal environment in which the UK Government, and governments across the globe, find themselves.

“It is a mistake to think that action to tackle poverty for our most vulnerable citizens are costs to be mitigated. These measures are investments in our people, our communities and our nation’s future. I have urged the UK Government to deliver an Autumn Budget that recognises this reality.

“Scotland’s Parliament has spoken, and I repeat my call for the UK Government to reverse its damaging decision to restrict entitlement to Winter Fuel Payments for pensioners.

“The Scottish Government will continue to support households with their energy bills and tackle fuel poverty. However the UK Government must ensure their budget in October provides the necessary support to those who need it most.”

Gender Recognition Reform Bill: Anas Sarwar warned ‘We Won’t Wheesht!’

Scottish women’s groups warn Anas Sarwar that he “cannot hide any longer” and will be held to account on Gender Recognition Reform Bill

Six grassroots organisations in Scotland have written a powerful plea to Anas Sarwar, the leader of Scottish Labour, on Monday (12 December) urging him follow his conscience ahead of the Scottish parliamentary vote on the Gender Recognition Reform Bill on 21 December.

In a strongly-worded letter, the groups – including Women Speak Scotland, Scottish Feminist Network and Women’s Declaration International Scotland – criticised Sarwar and other senior party figures of “not taking seriously the most significant bill on the safety of women and children in Scotland’s devolved history by delegating the issue to a relatively inexperienced MSP who seems to be struggling with or unwilling to hold the Scottish Government to account.”

The letter conveys the women’s frustration and anger as they describe that many of them “are politically homeless having previously been lifelong Labour supporters”, while “others are reevaluating their previously steadfast pro-Indy stance given the significance of the Equality Act (2010)” to the Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

The women issued a stark warning to the Scottish Labour leader in the event that they continue to avoid the serious concerns surrounding the Bill and hope that the current controversies “will blow over”:

“You cannot hide any longer. We women see you, we are angry, and we won’t wheesht. Women’s hard-won rights are not a political game.

“We will not let voters forget that you personally, as party leader, were knowingly and wilfully complicit in ignoring all the warnings, including from women in the Labour Party. All those who vote in favour of the GRR Bill will be held responsible for all its negative outcomes.”

“If you do not take a principled stance as leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, we will hold you accountable for the suffering of women and children in the years to come.”