Starmer and Sarwar can still work together, Scottish Secretary claims

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar can still work with Prime Minister Keir Starmer despite calling for him to quit, the Scottish Secretary has claimed.

Douglas Alexander said there had been a "sincere and genuine disagreement" between the pair but insisted they were focused on May's Holyrood election.

In a dramatic move on Monday, Sarwar said the situation in Downing Street was "not good enough" and that "too many mistakes" had been made at the top of government.

Starmer has insisted he will not resign, vowing to "never walk away from the country that I love."

Senior Labour figures publicly backed the prime minister following Sarwar's criticism.

At a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Starmer said "the whole of the Labour Party wants Anas Sarwar to become first minister and will fight for a Labour government in Scotland", according to Downing Street.

Scottish Secretary Alexander, who said he had spoken to Sarwar and Starmer the previous evening, insisted there was a "willingness to work together".

He told the BBC's Radio Scotland Breakfast programme: "These are both individuals who have strong and clear opinions, but who do not bear grudges."

The cabinet secretary said the prime minister had been "very clear he remains determined that Anas Sarwar is the first minister of Scotland".

Asked if he believed that Starmer would still be prime minister at the end of the year, Alexander replied: "Yes."

The Scottish Secretary said: "The prime minister has my support. I believe the prime minister has recognised things have to be learned and also that we have to change how we have done government in the first 18 months in office.

"And in that sense, I think there was, to put it mildly, an honest and genuine disagreement yesterday followed by a full and frank airing of positions.

"But the reaction by yesterday evening from across the party was, let's get back to work."

Alexander added that the Labour government "should have told our story better" and that while "some mistakes have been made, to err is to be human".

After a landslide victory north of the border in the 2024 general election, Scottish Labour had high hopes of challenging the SNP in May's Holyrood election.

However Alexander admitted recent polls were looking "tough", with Labour slipping behind Reform into third place.

Alexander is co-chair of Scottish Labour's election campaign with deputy leader Jackie Baillie, who has backed Sarwar's call for the prime minister to quit.

A senior party source told BBC Scotland News this arrangement would continue despite the co-chairs taking opposite sides in the debate over Starmer's future.

At a press conference on Monday, Sarwar criticised the appointment of Peter Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US, despite his links to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Scottish Labour leader said his decision to call for Starmer to go was "not easy and not without pain", adding that the prime minister was a "decent man" but that his "first loyalty" was to Scotland.

With the election looming, Sarwar said he needed to "decide what I'm willing to accept and what I'm willing to tolerate".

He added that the UK government's achievements had been "drowned out" by successive scandals.

Sarwar has not spoken to the media on Tuesday, but posted a campaign video on social media saying Scotland "could not risk a third decade of the SNP in power".

Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan initially stayed silent following Sarwar's statement.

But she later backed the prime minister, saying "the country needs stability in an age of instability", while raising concerns about the appointment of Lord Mandelson.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the public had "given Keir a huge mandate only 18 months ago" adding: "They expect us to get on with the job."

Health Secretary Wes Streeting and former Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner - both touted as potential leadership challengers - also gave their backing to the prime minister.

Speaking at an event on Tuesday, Starmer said the political "turmoil" would not stop him focusing on bringing down the cost of living and improving opportunities for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

He said: "There are some people in recent days who say the Labour government should have a different part, a fight with itself, instead of a fight for the millions of people who need us to fight for them.

"And I say to them: I will never walk away from the mandate I was given to change this country.

"I will never walk away from the people that I'm charged with fighting for and I will never walk away from the country that I love."

Alloa and Grangemouth MP Brian Leishman – who was suspended from the parliamentary Labour party for four months last year for rebelling against the government – said that the prime minister's performance had not been "good enough".

He told Radio Scotland Breakfast: "The Labour government need a set of policies that will truly transform Scottish and British society.

"Is Keir Starmer doing that job at the moment? The answer is no and we have to look at a change of leadership."

That view has been echoed by Falkirk MP Euan Stainbank and Joani Reid, MP for East Kilbride and Strathaven.

But several of their Westminster colleagues - including ministers Kirsty McNeill, Ian Murray and Michael Shanks - have backed the prime minister.

In calling for Keir Starmer to stand down, Anas Sarwar revealed a fundamental breach in his political relationship with the prime minister.

He has not taken back a word of what he said. If he did that would undermine his own credibility.

Yet the Scottish secretary Douglas Alexander has said it was nothing more than a "sincere and genuine disagreement" from which both men are ready to move on to concentrate on fighting the SNP.

His interview on Radio Scotland Breakfast was smooth and designed to calm the storm.

The fact that he has been called on to perform this role on numerous occasions in recent months tells its own story.

A series of blunders and about turns have marked Starmer's leadership and many in Scottish Labour think it is wrecking their Holyrood election chances.

They fear that if Starmer stays they will struggle to close the gap with the SNP and Sarwar's judgement is that if he goes there is at least the chance of changing the political weather.

Whatever happens it seems to me that Downing Street drama will continue to suck some of the oxygen from the Scottish campaign Sarwar wants to fight.

There will either be questions over how the two men can possibly work together should Sarwar become first minister or a new distraction of a leadership process to find a new PM if Starmer's forced out sooner rather than later.