Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar fired the starting gun on the 2026 Holyrood election campaign with a blockbuster pledge to deliver 125,000 new homes in five years and finally fix Scotland’s broken housing system.
Speaking to a packed Paisley Town Hall on Saturday, Sarwar promised a “housebuilding revolution” that would end rough sleeping, create thousands of jobs and give a generation the chance to own their own home.
The Centrepiece: 125,000 Homes in Five Years
Sarwar put housing at the very heart of Labour’s offer to voters.
Scottish Labour will build 125,000 new homes over the next five years if it wins power in May 2026.
That number is not plucked from thin air. It is 25,000 homes a year, more than double the current rate of construction across all tenures.
The plan includes a big expansion of council and housing association homes, a major boost to mid-market rent properties and support for first-time buyers.
A new Scottish Housing Investment Bank will be created to fund land assembly, brownfield regeneration and modern methods of construction.
Sarwar also revived Labour’s popular “£1 homes” scheme to bring thousands of empty and derelict properties back into use, alongside a massive expansion of construction apprenticeships.
Ending Rough Sleeping “Once and For All”
The Labour leader made an emotional promise that brought the hall to its feet.
“It is scandalous that in a country as wealthy as ours, people are still sleeping rough on our streets,” Sarwar said.
He pledged to end rough sleeping completely during the next parliament.
Official figures show 2,437 people were recorded sleeping rough in Scotland in 2023-24, but charities say the true number is much higher.
Sarwar linked decent housing directly to tackling poverty, improving health and giving children the stable start they deserve.
“Homes to live in, jobs to build them, and a country where every child has a place to call home,” he said. “That is my ambition for Scotland.”
Taking the Fight to the SNP After 18 Years
Sarwar pulled no punches against the SNP government.
He accused them of “a decade and a half of failure” on housing that has left waiting lists longer than ever and rents soaring.
Scotland’s social housing waiting lists stand at almost 200,000 households. In Glasgow alone, more than 35,000 people are waiting for a council home.
The Labour leader said only one party can remove the SNP from Bute House.
“In ten weeks we go into an election year,” he told activists. “Scotland faces a real choice: another five years of SNP failure or a Scottish Labour government that gets Scotland building again.”
He also took aim at Reform UK, dismissing them as “Tories in disguise who don’t care about Scotland one bit.”
From Paisley Dentist to Potential First Minister
Sarwar shared a deeply personal story that clearly moved the audience.
He reminded delegates that he started his working life as an NHS dentist right there in Paisley.
Every day he saw patients whose teeth were destroyed by poverty, whose health suffered because they lived in cold, damp homes.
“I saw the direct link between bad housing, poverty and health inequality,” he said.
“And I never accepted the idea that we just have to put up with it.”
That experience, he said, is what drives him now.
Delegates gave Sarwar a prolonged standing ovation, with many describing it as his strongest conference speech yet.
Scottish Labour sources say internal polling shows housing is now the second biggest issue for voters after the cost of living, and they believe Sarwar’s plans have cut through.
The SNP responded by pointing out that Scottish Labour backed Tory austerity cuts when in coalition at Westminster and voted against devolving full tax powers that could fund more housebuilding.
But there is no doubting the momentum behind Sarwar after this weekend.
He has put forward the most ambitious housing programme any party has offered Scotland in a generation.
Whether voters trust him to deliver it will be the defining question of the 2026 election.
One thing is clear: housing is now the battlefield on which the next Scottish government will be won or lost.
What do you think: can Scottish Labour really deliver 125,000 homes and end rough sleeping? Will this be the issue that finally ends the SNP’s long run in power? Share your thoughts below.
