Anas Sarwar, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party and MSP for Glasgow

Anas Sarwar is leader of the Scottish Labour Party and MSP for Glasgow.

Born in Glasgow in 1983, he studied dentistry at the University of Glasgow and worked as a dentist in the NHS in Paisley for five years prior to becoming a parliamentarian.

Anas was first elected as an MP for Glasgow Central in 2010 and was elected as deputy leader of Scottish Labour just one year later. In 2016 he was elected to the Scottish Parliament as MSP for Glasgow and re-elected in 2021.

He served in the Shadow Cabinet as Scottish Labour’s health and social care spokesperson and constitution spokesperson before being elected leader of the party in 2020.

In Parliament, he has established an expert-led workforce commission to tackle the staffing crisis in the health service, led the campaign to end the NHS pay cap, and exposed the truth behind the water infection scandal at Glasgow’s largest hospital.

After speaking about the racism he faced throughout his life, Anas established the Scottish Parliament's Cross-Party Group on Tackling Islamophobia and led a campaign against hatred and intolerance.

He is a proud member of the GMB and the Co-operative Party.

Outside of Parliament, Anas has worked on a number of charitable projects and founding Glasgow Cares. He arranged for ambulances to travel the Greek island of Lesbos to support refugees, runs an annual a toybank to provide Christmas gifts for children who would otherwise receive nothing, and has supported projects for homeless people in Glasgow.