Anas Sarwar: I’ll stop deluge of new laws for landowners if I become first minister

Anas Sarwar has pledged the Scottish government will stop handing down reams of new laws to landowners if he becomes first minister as they demanded a “reset” in relations.

The Scottish Labour leader lamented the SNP’s modus operandi of using “different constant new legislation” to try and solve problems in rural parts of the country.

In a speech at the Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) annual conference in Edinburgh, he told the assembled landowners: “The job of government is not to impose on you or to tell you how to run your businesses.”

Mr Sarwar instead promised to take a collaborative and strategic approach rather than chasing short-term headlines with a supposed quick fix.

His intervention came as delegates to the conference repeatedly expressed concern about a deluge of new legislation going through Holyrood, including another land reform bill and rent controls.

Jim Fairlie, the SNP’s agriculture minister, admitted there had “definitely been far too much of an urban-centric” policy focus in the Scottish government in recent years.

He insisted that the election of John Swinney as First Minister and Kate Forbes as his deputy represented a “reset” of the Scottish government’s relationship with the countryside, noting that both represent rural constituencies.

‘Road-tested to destruction’

But the conference was held the day after another poll found Labour ahead of the SNP in voting intentions for both the upcoming Westminster general election and the 2026 Holyrood poll.

Senior SLE figures said it was the first time a senior Labour politician had delivered an address to the conference since the party lost power to the SNP in 2007.

To laughter, Mr Sarwar admitted that the conference was “not natural territory for a Scottish Labour politician in recent years, to come and speak to an audience like this.”

But he argued his speech showed he was leading a “changed Labour Party” that prioritised economic growth and that there were “no no-go areas for us”.

“I think for a lot of businesses across the country, a lot of landowners across the country, you will often feel like the policy is imposed on you and your community rather than designed in partnership. That has to change,” he said.

Mr Sarwar said any new laws proposed by a Labour-run Scottish Government for rural communities would be “road-tested to destruction” before being introduced.

Estates generate an estimated £2.4 billion per year for the Scottish economy, support around 57,300 jobs and provide land for 14,000 rural enterprises, according to recent research.

Outlining the principles of how he would seek to govern if he became first minister, he said he would pursue “collaboration and partnership” with landowners.

Land reform

He defended the SNP’s controversial land reform legislation but agreed with a delegate that a crackdown on short-term lets was a problem that affected Edinburgh but wrongly became “national policy”.

Mr Sarwar also described Scotland’s planning system as an “absolute disaster”, saying the average wait for an application to be approved in Glasgow was 78 weeks compared to 16 weeks in Manchester.

Mr Fairlie said: “We absolutely have not got everything right by any stretch of the imagination.

“I think that the reset that we’re talking about has to be across everything that we’re doing and saying. Why are we doing this? What are we doing it for? Can we deliver it? And what are the benefits to the people of Scotland?”

Dee Ward, SLE’s chairman, said: “I believe that now is the moment for the Scottish Government to reset its relationship with rural Scotland, better understand the positive work we are undertaking to deliver benefits for everyone and create an evidence-based environment for legislation that supports our work to continue delivering these benefits now, and in the future.

“Recent years have seen the introduction of policies and legislation that fail to recognise the enormous contributions estates are making to our national outcomes.”