Scottish Labour party elects first Muslim leader, Anas Sarwar

LONDON: Scottish Labour on Saturday announced Anas Sarwar as their new leader — the first Muslim to have ever led the party.

The move comes ahead of an election for the country's devolved parliament in May.

Sarwar, a Glasgow member of the Scottish parliament (MSP), succeeds Richard Leonard who resigned in January.

Opposition Labour's fortunes have flagged in Scotland with the Scottish National Party (SNP) the dominant force. Labour has 23 out of 129 seats in the parliament.

"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," said Sarwar.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon wants a strong showing for her party in the election on May 6 to hand her a mandate to hold a second referendum on independence — something British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said he will not approve.

Opinion polls indicate a majority back a second referendum.

But the SNP is in the midst of a bitter row between Sturgeon and her predecessor Alex Salmond that could eventually put pressure on her to resign and threatens to damage the independence movement.

Leonard said in January it was in the best interests of the party for him to stand down before the May election.

Who is Anas Sarwar?

According to BBC, Anas Sarwar has been a member of the Scottish Labour party since he was 16 and is not the only one in his family with political ambitions.

His father, Mohammad Sarwar, became UK's first Muslim MP and had the Glasgow Central seat to his name from 1997 to 2010, after which Anas took over till 2015 when it was won by Scottish National Party's Alison Thewliss.

According to BBC, he had an "unsuccessful leadership bid in 2017" after which he claimed "one councillor had told him Scotland would not vote for him because of his religion and the colour of his skin".

"Sarwar's most high profile role as an MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament) was as Scottish Labour's health spokesman and he played a key role in the concern over safety issues at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital which led to a public inquiry," the report stated.

Anas is a graduate from the University of Glasgow and was a dentist in Paisley for five years before he became an MP, the British publication added.