SCOTTISH Labour leader Anas Sarwar has been targeted by racist attacks after a far-right social media account shared a clipped video of a speech he gave three years ago.
The anonymous account on Twitter/X, which uses an AI-generated profile image and has Union flags alongside the slogan “we must take our country back” in its bio, posted the video on Sunday evening.
In the clip, Sarwar can be seen to advocate for better political representation for people from Pakistani and South Asian communities, saying that they will no longer be viewed as simply a “vote bank” by politicians but instead will have the chance to influence change themselves.
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The anonymous account which first shared the speech claimed it showed Sarwar supported Pakistani and South Asian people “taking over” British schools and government, adding: “We are going to lose everything to this ideology. If we don't take our Europe back.”
The clip was reshared by figures including former Ukip leader Henry Bolton, GB News host Alex Armstrong – who claimed it proved “multiculturalism has failed” – and alt-right activist Laurence Fox – who claimed it meant “Sharia is coming”.
Here is what we know about the video.
Where did the video clip originate?
In the video, Anas Sarwar is shown giving a speech to a fundraiser dinner in honour of the 75th Anniversary of Pakistan Independence, hosted by Culture Asia.
The event took place in September 2022, and a full video of Sarwar’s roughly four-minute speech was uploaded to YouTube in January 2023. Before a clip from it was shared on Sunday, it had only 200 views and a single “like”.
The clip shared by alt-right activists is 51 seconds long, meaning the majority of context has been stripped away. The clipped version begins with Sarwar mid-sentence, and ends mid-thought.
Why was the video controversial?
The clip shared by the far-right account on Twitter/X shows Anas Sarwar say: “We will only truly get real power, not if we just have more Pakistanis sitting in council chambers and parliaments, but actually having more Pakistanis and South Asians sitting in the corridors of power, making the decisions.
“And that's where I'll end tonight, is to say the change is coming, and the days where our South Asian community are viewed as a vote bank or a curry bank are well and truly gone.
“The days where South Asian communities get to lead political parties and get to lead countries is now upon us.
“The days when South Asian communities get to decide, not just what school our children go to, but what they are taught in those schools is also coming.”
Believe them when they tell you what they intend to do.
— Laurence Fox (@LozzaFox) April 28, 2025
Britain is just another land to be conquered.
Our culture, traditions and heritage is to be erased and replaced with blasphemy laws and the erasure of women’s rights.
Sharia is coming.
pic.twitter.com/kPQd8XFFQS
GB News host Armstrong said of the clip: “Scottish Labour leader @AnasSarwar stands in front of a Pakistani flag, urging Pakistanis to take power in councils, parliament, political parties and countries – so they can dictate what’s taught in schools.”
“This isn’t assimilation, it’s sectarianism and it must be stopped, now,” he added.
Also sharing the clip, Fox, a former GB News host who was fired after a misogynistic rant about journalist Ava Evans, said: “Believe them when they tell you what they intend to do. Britain is just another land to be conquered.
“Our culture, traditions and heritage is to be erased and replaced with blasphemy laws and the erasure of women’s rights. Sharia is coming.”
The replies to the video saw other users use racist language and stereotypes, as well as frequent references to the trope that Muslims aim to “take over” Western society and not integrate into it.
What does Anas Sarwar say in the full video?
In the full video, Anas Sarwar continues speaking after the cut which was used by the anonymous far-right account – and then amplified by others like Armstrong and Fox.
The fuller speech demonstrates that Sarwar was talking about South Asian communities in Britain entering politics as a more active force, after already having integrated into the UK.
He said: “Can I first of all say that some might think when they see Pakistanis in politics and see Pakistanis in different political parties in Scotland and politics, that somehow that demonstrates a division in Pakistani communities. I think the opposite.
“I think it is a source of immense strength that we now have representation in every mainstream political party in Scotland and across the UK because we will only truly get real power, if not if we just have more Pakistanis sitting in council chambers and parliaments, but actually having more Pakistanis and South Asians sitting in the corridors of power, making the decisions.
“And that's where I'll end tonight, is to say the change is coming, and the days where our South Asian community are viewed as a vote bank or a curry bank are well and truly gone.
“The days where South Asian communities get to lead political parties and get to lead countries is now upon us.
“The days when South Asian communities get to decide, not just what school our children go to, but what they are taught in those schools is also coming.
“The days when our South Asian communities get to decide, not just what shifts they do in our National Health Service, but actually how we operate and run and rebuild our National Health Service is coming.
“And the days where our South Asian community don't talk about the statistics of how many of them live in poverty, but actually get to work together to eradicate poverty is what's coming.
“That's the mission of Scotland's Pakistani community and the UK Pakistani community. That's the Scots that we truly are, and inshallah [if god wills it] we'll go on that journey together.”
What has Scottish Labour's response been?
Anas Sarwar's party issued a damning statement in response to the video being shared online on Monday.
“This clip has been taken out of all context by individuals with a hard-right agenda to use as a dog whistle to poison our politics," a spokesperson said.
Humza Yousaf's racial privilege speech
The incident echoes a similar one involving former SNP first minister Humza Yousaf, who like Sarwar is Scots Asian.
Elon Musk, the far-right activist and Tesla chief executive, claimed Yousaf was "racist" after a video circulating online showed him talking about the number of high-profile roles in Scotland held by white people.
Speaking in 2020, at a time when protests were sweeping across the world after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, Yousaf said that at "99 per cent of the meetings that I go to, I am the only non-white person in the room".
He added: “Almost every trade union in this country [is] headed by people who are white. In the Scottish Government, every director general is white. Every chair of every public body is white. That is not good enough."
The Ferret's fact-check found it was "false" to suggest Yousaf's speech had been bigoted against white people, saying the clip shared by the far right was "part of a wider statement he made in the Scottish Parliament in 2020 about structural racism and inequality".
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