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COURIER OPINION: Scottish Labour needs to work to win back voters in its Tayside and Fife strongholds

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar may be buoyant after an upbeat annual conference but now the party has to prove it can deliver for voters.

Anas Sarwar on stage at Scottish Labour Party conference
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar at the party conference in Edinburgh. Image: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock.

The Scottish Labour conference could hardly have come at a better time for Anas Sarwar.

UK leader Sir Keir Starmer appears to be on track to lead the party to electoral success at Westminster.

And the shock resignation of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon may have opened the door to closing the gap on the SNP at Holyrood.

Only time will tell whether either of those goals can be achieved.

Nicola Sturgeon waving from a stage
Does the departure of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon open a door for Scottish Labour? Image: PA.

When he became Scottish Labour leader almost two years ago, Sarwar vowed to win back the trust of Scots.

He said people had not had the Labour Party they deserve.

As the dust settles on the conference, that question of trust will be key.

Many who abandoned Labour at the ballot box point to the independence debate as the moment that trust was lost.

Others highlight the years when Labour had a fortress of support in Scotland and suggest they did not do enough with it.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar on the party conference stage with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar on the party conference stage with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. Image: Stuart Wallace/Shutterstock .

Sturgeon’s departure feels like the closing of a chapter in Scottish politics. But are Scots ready to turn the page on Labour?

Concerns over Scottish Labour health boards shake-up plan

This was not a conference where leaders focused their efforts on announcing a raft of shiny new policies. But there were some key announcements.

One of the biggest talking points is Labour’s radical plan to reduce Scotland’s 14 health boards down to three.

The proposal has received a mixed response.

Would it really make sense to lump people in the most southern parts of Perthshire with those living in Shetland while Fife is carved off into a new “east” board?

Jackie Baillie in red jacket with red Labour rosette giving a thumbs-up sign
Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, announced the health boards shake-up plan Image Andrew Cawley.

Opponents have accused the party of pushing the kind of centralisation they have often bashed the SNP for.

No return to power for Labour will come without winning back communities in Tayside and Fife which were once its strongholds.

Deputy leader Jackie Ballie told governments at both Westminster and Holyrood that “Labour is back in business and we are coming for your job”.

There is a vacancy at Bute House that Anas Sarwar will no doubt have his eye on.

But he will need to prove he can deliver for local people if he stands a chance of getting that job one day.

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