Anas Sarwar has threatened to name and shame colleagues by revealing a league table of under-performing MP and MSPs. The Scottish Labour leader read the riot act after becoming frustrated at the lack of party content being shared on social media.
Sarwar has watched Scottish Labour’s poll rating tumble amid a difficult start by Keir Starmer’s Government. He has faced criticism over the Labour Government’s cuts to winter fuel payments, the refusal to pay compensation to WASPI women and job losses at Grangemouth.
It is understood Sarwar has grown increasingly frustrated with some of his 22 MSPs and 37 MPs for not preaching the party line on social media platforms.
Sarwar is believed to have pulled up colleagues for not sharing the content and has suggested distributing a league table that has been compiled. Scottish Labour consider themselves a “digital first” organisation and they publish content on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X.
A senior Scottish Labour insider said: “Anas is absolutely right to demand more from colleagues. Sharing party messages on social media is the bare minimum we expect.”
The latest party tweet on protecting free university tuition, as of early Tuesday afternoon, had been retweeted by seven of the 59 parliamentarians. Sarwar is also believed to want Labour portfolio teams at Holyrood to meet more frequently and be more productive.
With many Holyrood candidate selections still to take place, Sarwar’s team are hoping for an influx of new blood after the next election.
The party’s annual conference will take place in Glasgow next week, with Sarwar and Starmer expected to give speeches. Scottish Labour will unveil a number of policies that will be central to their next Holyrood manifesto.
A recent poll showed Labour winning fewer seats than in 2021, which itself was a historic low point in devolution. A party source dismissed the poll as an “outlier” and was not reflected by a raft of recent local by-election results. Scottish Labour has been contacted.
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