Scotland is no longer on the political sidelines

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer delivers his keynote speech during the Scottish Labour Party conference at the Scottish Exhibition Centre (SEC) in Glasgow on Sunday (Picture: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)

Instead, we now have 37 Scottish Labour MPs on the government benches, fighting for Scotland’s interests. Many are serving at the heart of government, with Michael Shanks leading the charge on clean energy, Douglas Alexander promoting international trade and Kirsty McNeill making Scotland’s voice heard.

Of course, the number of Scottish Labour MPs is not the only thing that has changed in the last year. The world is a markedly more dangerous place, and international peace and security are facing a level of threat not seen since the end of the Cold War. But with Labour in power at Westminster, we have a government that will keep us secure at home and strong abroad.

Since July, Scotland’s interests have been championed time and time again by the new Labour Government. In October, the Chancellor’s Budget provided Scotland with its largest ever budget settlement and ended Tory austerity. We’ve raised the minimum wage, giving 200,000 of the lowest paid Scots a pay rise worth £1400 a year. We are ending fire and rehire and banning exploitative zero-hours contracts. We’ve established GB Energy, to be headquartered in Aberdeen, which will put Scotland at the centre of the industries of the future. And we’ve ended the injustice of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme, paying thousands of former miners in Scotland the money they are rightfully owed.

We promised that when it came to Grangemouth, we wouldn’t walk by on the other side of the road. We had days to act when the Tories and the SNP had years and did nothing. In Glasgow this weekend, the Prime Minister announced a £200 million investment from the Labour Government’s National Wealth Fund for Grangemouth’s industrial future. Promise made, promise kept. This is the difference a Labour Government and Prime Minister makes. We are putting Scotland’s workers and industrial future first.

This is only the beginning. As we look to the 2026 Scottish Parliament elections, we are determined to realise a different future for our country. Public services in Scotland are failing, and after the austerity-ending budget delivered by the UK Labour Government, the SNP are out of excuses. But instead, every week brings a new raft of statistics showing how the SNP are taking Scotland in the wrong direction. Just this week we saw the attainment gap between the richest and poorest children widen, 8000 college places lost in a year and nearly 10,000 Scots waiting for social care assessment or packages.

The proposals announced by Anas Sarwar over the weekend – including bold plans to revive primary care and end the 8am rush to see a GP, a new Scottish Treasury to ensure the fiscal disasters of the SNP can never be repeated, and a plan to drive down waiting lists – are the green shoots on which the revitalisation of our country will be based. With Anas Sarwar as First Minister, there will be no limit to what Scotland can achieve.

Ian Murray is MP for Edinburgh South and Secretary of State for Scotland