ANAS Sarwar has said that Scottish Labour will create an Elon Musk-style “Doge” to find public spending cuts if he becomes first minister.
The Scottish Labour MSP announced the policy just two days after the Scottish Conservatives announced an identical proposal.
Announcing the policy, Sarwar also echoed the Tories in comparing the £1 billion bill for a replacement Barlinnie to a luxury resort.
He told the Scottish Labour conference: “A project first estimated to cost £100 million – now on track to cost £1bn.
“To put that into context, the SNP is spending the same amount on the new Barlinnie prison as the cost of building the five-star, luxury Atlantis hotel in Dubai – which has over 1500 bedrooms, spas, a wellness centre, restaurants, cafes, an aquarium, swimming pools, and a water park with 105 slides.
“They think that’s value for money for a prison for murderers and rapists!"
Invoking the far-right Tesla chief executive Musk, Sarwar added: “As first minister I will respect every penny of your money. That’s why we will have our own Department of Government Efficiency [Doge] to stop the waste and deliver value for money for you, the taxpayer.”
Elsewhere, Sarwar said that Scottish Labour would create a series of directly elected Scottish mayorships in what he called the “next stage of Scotland’s devolution story”.
He told delegates: “We need a re-wiring of local democracy to push power out from the Scottish Government.
“That’s why as First Minister I will pass a local democracy act that will guarantee fair funding for our councils [and] deliver the power to have directly-elected mayors for communities across Scotland.”
He also said Labour would bring in an “Amazon tax” on online giants in order to benefit Scottish high streets.
“Scottish businesses are missing out due to a rates system that is rigged against small and medium-sized businesses while protecting the online giants that are eating our high streets and town centres,” Sarwar said.
"I will act to reinvigorate our high streets and town centres by making online giants pay their fair share – to do that a Scottish Labour government will introduce an Amazon tax.”
He also announced plans to embark on a world tour promoting "Brand Scotland". Sarwar said he would visit Europe, including Ireland, and the US to promote Scottish interests.
"With me as first minister, Scotland will be on the world stage, confidently playing its part once more," he said.
Sarwar further used his conference speech to underline Labour's previously announced plan to cut the number of “quangos” – quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations that operate independently from direct government control but perform public functions – in Scotland.
Sarwar said: "Right now Scots are paying more and more to serve the ever-expanding machinery of government and they are getting less and less from public services.
"Scotland is now home to no fewer than 131 quangos – there are more quangos than MSPs. £6.6bn is being spent on these bodies every year ...
"I can tell you now that as First Minister, I will end this culture of waste."
A Freedom of Information release from the Scottish Government in May 2024 confirmed that there were 131 quangos, up from 119 in 2015.
According to a Scotsman report from 2010, there were 186 quangos in Scotland at the onset of devolution.
