Anas Sarwar has branded Boris Johnson as a “criminal prime minister” as he insisted his party is aiming to kick the Conservatives out of power.
The Scottish Labour leader spoke as he launched a ‘Boot out Boris’ campaign day across Scotland on Saturday.
And he pledged that it is “not enough” to only oppose Johnson, outlining the need to replace him and his government at Westminster.
It comes after Conservative MPs voted to keep the Prime Minister in power at a meeting of the 1922 Committee.
Johnson won the backing of 211 of his MPs, but as many as 148 voted to say they did not have confidence in him.
“The facts are clear – now that Tory MPs have bottled it and failed to remove Boris Johnson from Downing Street, it’s on us the people to do it at the next general election,” said Sarwar.
“It’s not enough to just oppose this criminal prime minister – we must replace him and his party too. Only Labour can do that.
“The next electoral contest in Scotland will be a general election. This is our chance for change and Scottish Labour is not wasting any time in preparing to kick the Tories out of power and elect a Labour Government.”
Sarwar also acknowledged the impact of the cost-of-living crisis, with prices rising across the country.
“With the cost-of-living crisis biting, the people of Scotland can feel consequences of two failing governments with the wrong priorities,” he continued.
“Rather than seeking to divide Scotland again, we are building a campaign to unite people across our country to get honesty, decency, integrity back into our politics and to elect a government that is on your side.
“Join the campaign to boot out Boris and let’s build a more positive future together.”
A Scottish Conservative spokesman hit back at Sarwar, and suggested that Labour would seek to strike a deal with the SNP in a future general election.
“Anas Sarwar talks about honesty and integrity in politics, but his party have betrayed pro-UK voters,” they said.
“Labour said they would lock the SNP out of town halls during the council elections, but then did a coalition deal to put the SNP power in Dumfries and Galloway.
“In the next general election, pro-UK voters won’t believe a word what Anas Sarwar says.
“They know that if Labour get a whiff of power, they will do a deal with the SNP.”
Kirsten Oswald, the SNP’s Westminster deputy leader, argued that the way to protect households from the cost of living crisis is for Scotland to become an independent country.
“With Labour and the Tories cosying up across Scotland following the local elections in Scotland and being the handmaidens of the Tory government’s extreme Brexit, it’s beyond any doubt that only the SNP is holding the Tories in Westminster to account,” she said.
“It’s clear that people in Scotland are being forced to pay a heavy price for the cost of living with Westminster – with Tory austerity, the regressive NI hike, cuts to Universal Credit, and Brexit piling on the pressure.
“The only way to properly protect households is to become an independent country.”
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