Prime Minister Andy Burnham has come under renewed pressure to explain Anas Sarwar’s appointment to the House of Lords during his visit to Scotland, with the SNP claiming the decision has deepened divisions within Scottish Labour.
The criticism comes after Burnham met First Minister John Swinney in Glasgow ahead of the opening of the Commonwealth Games, with the peerage remaining a major talking point in Scottish politics.
The SNP says questions remain over the circumstances surrounding Sarwar’s appointment following his call for former Prime Minister Keir Starmer to step down before Burnham entered Downing Street.
The party has also highlighted previous comments made by both Burnham and Sarwar criticising the House of Lords.
In 2015, Burnham said:
“We put a collection of establishment figures, old politicians and party donors into a grand second chamber with the atmosphere of an upper-class gentleman’s club.”
Sarwar has previously argued that the House of Lords “has no place in 21st century politics”, describing it as “unacceptable” for unelected representatives to wield such power.
SNP Westminster Leader Dave Doogan said:
“Andy Burnham has started a full-scale civil war in Scottish Labour, he now needs to fess up to the growing suspicion that there was a pre-planned plot to put Anas Sarwar in the House of Lords.
“The source of that suspicion is blindingly obvious, Anas Sarwar called for Keir Starmer to lose his job and now Anas has a job for life in the House of Lords.
“The benefit for Burnham is that he ended up becoming Prime Minister, the benefit for Sarwar and Douglas Alexander is that they were handed cushty jobs in Westminster despite being roundly rejected by the Scottish people at the Holyrood election.
“Andy Burnham said he wanted to scrap the House of Lords and yet one of his first moves is to stuff people into it, Anas Sarwar told us he wanted to scrap it too, but it turns out he can’t get the ermine cloak around his shoulders quick enough.
“If the new UK Prime Minister wants to know why people are cynical about Westminster, maybe he should start by looking at his own hypocrisy.
“Andy Burnham has talked the talk about new politics for months, then dished out a peerage to Anas Sarwar in an all too familiar Westminster establishment move, it’s no wonder more and more people are concluding we need a fresh start with independence.”
Neither the Prime Minister nor Scottish Labour responded to the SNP’s latest criticism during the visit, with Burnham’s programme instead focusing on meetings with the First Minister and the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
