Nicola Sturgeon departure ‘boosts Labour’s chances of election victory’

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Nicola Sturgeon’s departure increases Labour’s chances of victory at the next general election, Anas Sarwar has said ahead of the new SNP leader being unveiled on Monday.

Mr Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader argued that Ms Sturgeon standing down “makes it in some ways easier for us” by blunting Tory claims that Sir Keir Starmer would be forced to bow to the SNP’s wishes in the event of a hung Parliament.

He told The Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast that, in the last three elections, the Tories had “relentlessly pursued” a strategy of warning that a Labour government would be “in the pocket of the SNP leader”.

An ad campaign in the 2015 election depicted Ed Miliband in the pocket of Alex Salmond, while another showed the then Labour leader as a puppet being manipulated by Ms Sturgeon.

But Mr Sarwar argued that voters would no longer find this credible because the three SNP leadership candidates – Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan – were “not in her league”.

He reiterated that there would be “no deals with the SNP”, dismissing claims by the candidates that they would demand another independence referendum in return for putting Labour into power.

He said: “I dare Kate Forbes or Humza Yousaf to vote in a Tory government and we can see how Scotland reacts.”

His intervention came as Ms Forbes, the SNP finance secretary, warned that Scotland would be “stuck in an endless constitutional loop” of fighting over independence unless she becomes First Minister.

Mr Yousaf, the SNP health secretary and Sturgeon continuity candidate, also issued an 11th-hour plea for votes by arguing that only he would continue the party’s power-sharing deal with the Scottish Greens.

But Ms Forbes said she had “no fear” of running a minority government after the Greens threatened to walk away from the coalition if she refused to accept Ms Sturgeon’s controversial self-ID gender reforms.

Ms Sturgeon is expected to tender her resignation as First Minister to the King on Tuesday, and the Scottish Parliament will vote for her replacement. They will be sworn in at the Court of Session the following day, when Cabinet appointments are also expected.

The SNP leader of eight years, told BBC Sounds that she will “probably” write a book about her experiences over the past 30 years, adding: “Whether anybody will ever want to read it is another matter, but I’ll probably choose to do it for therapy.”

Labour currently holds only one of Scotland’s 59 Westminster seats, but party strategists believe it could take more than 20 from the SNP in next year’s general election following Ms Sturgeon’s departure.

Sir Keir has visited Scotland three times this month as he attempts to spearhead a Labour revival in its former stronghold by appealing to thousands of the party’s former voters who have defected to the SNP.

Mr Sarwar said that he had assumed there would be a Labour government before Ms Sturgeon stood down, but her sudden departure made an election win easier to achieve.

Although he acknowledged that the Tory “pocket” ad campaign had “cost us votes”, he said: “No one’s going to claim the next leader of the SNP is anywhere near the calibre [of Ms Sturgeon].

“These three candidates are not in her league. They are nowhere near as able, they are nowhere near as formidable, they are nowhere near as good communicators. And instead you’ve got three candidates who seem to be having a race to the bottom in terms of who can criticise and distance themselves from the SNP the most.”

He  also admitted for the first time that he should have been “a bit harder” about demanding greater protection for single-sex spaces before Labour MSPs backed Ms Sturgeon’s self-ID gender reforms.

An SNP spokesman said: “The SNP government will continue to focus on the priorities of people in Scotland, including tackling the Tory cost of living crisis, improving public services and strengthening the economy.”

Listen to the full interview with Anas Sawar on Chopper's Politics, The Telegraph's weekly political podcast, using the audio player in this article or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast app.