Sarwar says he will 'absolutely' stay on as Labour leader

Sarwar says he will 'absolutely' stay on as Labour leader45 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GooglePA MediaAnas Sarwar has led Scottish Labour to two defeats in Holyrood electionsAnas Sarwar has insisted he will "absolutely" stay on as Scottish Labour leader, despite his party recording their worst ever result at a Scottish Parliament election. Labour lost four seats last week, returning just 17 of the 129 seats available.Sarwar refused to be drawn on how long he would continue as leader and did not commit to leading his party into the next election in five years' time. He told BBC Scotland's The Sunday Show his "responsibility now is to hold my party together," and pledged to hold "the newly elected SNP government to account on their record".He said he would he would "make sure we have a parliament and a democracy that functions in Scotland." Sarwar declined to say whether he saw himself leading his party into the next election, adding: "I've got a job to do and I intend to do it." Live: Sarwar says he will stay as Scottish Labour leader to 'hold party together'Scottish election 2026: Results in maps and chartsSNP wins Scottish election as Reform and Labour tie for secondIn his first interview since Labour lost national elections in both Scotland and Wales and saw huge losses across councils in England, Sarwar confirmed he is sticking by his February call for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to resign. He said: "I said what I said back in February, I am not recoiling from that." With renewed calls in Labour for Starmer to go, Sarwar said he had tried to make the campaign about Scotland but "there was clearly a national wave that we tried to overcome but we failed to do so."Anas Sarwar: I’m focused on what this election means for ScotlandHe described the Scottish election result as "disappointing and hurtful" and took full responsibility for the s...