SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar accused First Minister John Swinney yesterday of “duping” supporters into thinking he can win a majority and a fresh referendum on independence.

Mr Swinney has repeatedly called on party faithful and wider backers of independence to rally behind the SNP to win a majority next May’s Holyrood election — a feat only achieved in 2011, when it led directly to 2014’s plebiscite.

Dismissing this possibility, Mr Sarwar said: “John Swinney is duping his own membership, his own supporters and his own candidates.

“If Nicola Sturgeon, when the SNP were up above 50 per cent in the opinion polls, when her approval ratings were at plus 58 per cent, when she was claiming to be Mother Teresa, couldn’t win a majority, the idea that this guy, who has been at the centre of the government for the last 18 years, low energy, no ideas John Swinney, is somehow pretending that he is going to energise the masses and win a majority government in Scotland is for the birds.”

In an apparent bid to put clear water between Scottish Labour and PM Sir Keir Starmer after 18 months of a British Labour government which has left him competing with Reform for second place next May, Mr Sarwar added: “Keir Starmer is not standing to be first minister.

“The two people credibly standing to be first minister [are] me and John Swinney.”

“If you care about your school, your local hospital, local services, local transport, regional development, they’re all the responsibility of the Scottish government and not the responsibility of the UK Labour government.

“John Swinney will want to make it about ministers somewhere else.

“I’m going to make this election about Scotland and I’m confident if this election is about Scotland, people will choose that new direction.”

Mr Swinney said: “I think I’m demonstrating that I’m getting government focused on the priorities of the public.

“The health service is delivering a performance that’s now seeing waiting lists fall as a consequence of the leadership I give the health service, child poverty is now at its lowest level for 30 years in Scotland — that’s not happened by accident.

“We’ve got the ideas, the energy, the commitment, the drive and the vision to deliver a better Scotland and that’s what I’m going to set out to the public.”