Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has offered to work with the SNP Government on helping the country recover from covid.
Sarwar, whose party came a distant third in the Holyrood election, said disagreements over independence should not prevent rival parties working together.
He also accused the Scottish Tories of fuelling divisions in the country by focusing on the constitution.
Although Sarwar has been in post for less than three months, he was credited with running a positive election campaign based on a message of national recovery.
However, the final result confirmed Labour’s historic decline, with the party only winning 22 seats.
It means Labour have gone backwards at every Holyrood election since 1999.
In a post-election speech that searched for positives, Sarwar said Labour were on 14% ten weeks ago and the Greens had been making “bold predictions” about coming third.
He said through “energy and enthusiasm” Labour had built “hope and optimism” again.
He also claimed Labour alone had started the campaign with a “laser like” focus on recovery, after which it became the “centrepiece” for every other party.
Party sources admit Labour had again failed to win back voters lost to the SNP and Sarwar’s speech pointedly reached out to Sturgeon’s party.
He said: “I am making an open offer, and a big offer, to all political parties across Scotland, but in particular an open and big offer to the SNP.
“Yes, we will disagree on the issue of the constitution, but we can not allow that one issue we disagree on to paralyse our politics and stop us making positive progress together.
“If you were true to your word about wanting to build a recovery, if you were true to your word that you wanted to come through this most difficult year, and build a stronger, fairer, greener nation, then we will work with you and every other political party to achieve that.”
He said the country needed comeback plans for pupils, the biggest job creation scheme in the history of devolution, as well as action to tackle child poverty and the “cancer crisis”.
Sarwar said: “I make an open offer to the Government, and to every other political party - let’s put aside what divides us, let’s hold true to the word we gave to the Scottish people, and work together in the collective national interest.”
He also said of the Tories, who again beat Labour to second place: “I say to them directly, ‘your campaign actually pushed people into the hands of the SNP’.”
