Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar will brand the Scottish National Party as “tired, knackered and out of touch” when he delivers his Labour party conference speech today.

Continuing to set out his party’s stall for the 2026 Scottish General Election, the Glaswegian leader of Scotland’s third biggest party is expected to ask, “Where has the money gone?” when he goes on stage in front of party members at Liverpool’s exhibition centre.

Rachel Reeves’s first budget as Chancellor delivered a record devolution settlement for Scotland of £50billion when combining the devolved Barnett Consequential sums from the Autumn Budget and Spring Statement.

Previous Scottish Secretary, Ian Murray, said Labour delivered “the largest spending review settlement in the history of the Scottish Parliament”, but the Scottish Labour leader has been a vocal critic of how the SNP Government set out its spending plan.

When he takes to the stage later today, Anas Sarwar is expected to tell delegates that the SNP “cannot be trusted” with the UK’s money.

“While things are getting better with Labour in England, the same is not the case in Scotland.

“Because the truth is that we are being held back by a knackered, desperate and incompetent SNP government.”

Mr Sarwar, a regional Glasgow MSP since 2016, is anticipated to point out that while record funding has come to Scotland, everyday Scots still experience police cuts, rising crime and “Scots being forced to emigrate to get jobs as doctors, teachers and nurses.”

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

• Scotland’s ‘most dismal town’ award scrapped over ‘poverty safari’ claims
• Labour MSP suspended over ‘inappropriate conduct’ as party urged to ‘come clean’
• Humza Yousaf blasts ‘toxic’ Scotland immigration debate as admits SNP failure to listen to voters

“Scots are working hard, paying their taxes but they are getting worse and worse services in return from the SNP.

“Quite frankly, where has the money gone?” he’ll ask, concluding “The SNP is embezzling Scots’ opportunities with their incompetence.”

The Scottish National Party has hit back at Sarwar’s comments, accusing the Scottish Labour leader of a “desperate attempt” to deflect from Labour’s failures in government and “the constant scandals, sleaze and chaos engulfing Keir Starmer’s crisis-hit party”.

SNP Deputy Westminster Leader, Pete Wishart MP, said: “Voters were promised change but, under Starmer, the UK has gone from bad to worse.

“The cost of living is soaring, unemployment is at a four-year high, the UK economy has been downgraded, public finances have deteriorated, child poverty is at record levels.”

The Perth and Kinross-shire MP said UK Labour has allowed families to struggle with rising inflation impacting energy bills and food prices, while in contrast “John Swinney is delivering for Scotland”.

He added: “Scotland is the only part of the UK where child poverty is falling thanks to SNP policies like free school meals, free childcare, the Scottish Child Payment, Best Start Grant and Baby Box – ensuring all children get the best start in life.”

This week, the SNP pulled 17 points ahead of Scottish Labour in Survation’s Scottish Parliamentary poll, with Reform now just two points behind Labour in third and Scottish Conservatives languishing in fourth.

SNP Westminster Chief Whip Kirsty Blackman MP has called for “full transparency” from Anas Sarwar after pointing to recent Scottish Labour scandals as an explanation for why the SNP continues to pull ahead in Holyrood polling.

In August, Colin Smyth was suspended by the party after he was arrested and charged over possessing indecent images of children and on the eve of the party conference, Lothian MSP Foysol Choudhury was suspended pending the investigation of an inappropriate conduct claim.

Ms Blackman said: “Given the long list of scandals that have rocked the Labour Party recently – with Foysol Choudhury, Colin Smyth, Peter Mandelson, Morgan McSweeney, Paul Ovenden and Angela Rayner all caught up in the last month alone – voters deserve answers.

“Whatever the explanation, with yet another scandal on the eve of their party conference, there’s no doubt the Labour Party is in crisis.”

Nevertheless, with the countdown begun to May’s Holyrood election, Anas Sarwar will hold firm in Liverpool, telling delegates: “The choice before Scotland in just seven months is so clear – more failure and decline with the SNP or a new direction with Scottish Labour.”