Anas Sarwar has pledged that Scottish Labour will offer a “better opposition” as he targeted beating the Tories and depriving the SNP of a majority at Holyrood.
The Scottish Labour leader unveiled advertising vans urging Scots to use both votes for his party on the constituency and regional list ballot papers in May’s election.
Sarwar has described the Scottish Tories as “incompetent” and said they have resorted to “old arguments and old divisions”.
Scottish Labour won 24 seats at the previous Scottish Parliament election, falling to third place behind the Scottish Conservatives, who won 31 seats.
Sarwar, a candidate for the Glasgow Southside constituency and the Glasgow regional list, said five years of the Tories as the main opposition have been “chaos”.
Speaking in Edinburgh, he said: “I think Scotland can choose something different and in this election you’re not just electing a government, you’re also electing an opposition.
“And that’s why we’re saying to use both your votes for Labour so we can stop an SNP majority and we can push them towards the priorities that matter coming through this recovery.
“But it also means having an opposition that’s not just going to play games but is actually going to try and focus on making us come through this as a stronger and fairer nation.”
Sarwar added: “On every issue, they want to take us back to the old arguments, they aren’t serious about taking us forward as a country and focusing on the national recovery.
“You’ve seen over the last five years, where they promised to give us a strong opposition. And instead of governance is chaos across the country. Scotland deserves better than that.”
