Despite Labour's loss of power at that general election, Anas Sarwar emphasised his independence and differentiated himself from his father's politics.

The Guardian described him as positioning himself on the "moderate left" of the Labour Party, supporting electoral reform for the House of Commons, reforming the House of Lords to have a majority of elected seats but with some seats remaining appointed, and reducing the scale of the UK's nuclear deterrent.

He opposed privatisation of the NHS but supported the use of private finance initiative schemes to build schools.

[15] In December 2011, Sarwar was elected as Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party receiving 51.1% of the vote.

[17] In 2013, Sarwar took a strong line in attacking both the "bedroom tax" and accused the Scottish Government of failure to mitigate its worst effects.

The Guardian reported that she felt like she needed to resign after the general secretary of Scottish Labour, Ian Price, was "removed from office without her being consulted".

Sarwar was opposed to leaving the European Union and said that the UK needed to stay in the single market in order to counter the Conservatives' austerity policies.

[30] He expressed support for UK-wide Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's policies of "a £10 national living wage, public ownership of the railways, higher taxation for the rich and tougher laws on basic wages and employment rights".

[29] Sarwar was criticised by opponents after it emerged that his family firm was advertising job vacancies with pay below the recommended living wage.

During the 2017 leadership election, Rutherglen councillor Davie McLachlan allegedly said "Scotland wouldn't vote for a brown Muslim Paki".

Leonard acknowledged the process was flawed and the committee would need to be reformed to avoid similar incidents.

[36] In November 2019, Sarwar was given access to a leaked report from 2015 which had considered infection controls at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital to be at "high risk".

[38] Following the resignation of Richard Leonard in 2021, Sarwar was elected as leader of the Scottish Labour Party, winning 57.6% of the vote to Monica Lennon's 42.4%.

[41] Sarwar and some reporters said this made him the first ethnic minority person to lead a major UK political party, although The Spectator pointed to political leaders of Jewish descent such as Benjamin Disraeli, Michael Howard and Ed Miliband whilst acknowledging he was the first Muslim and person of Asian descent.

[42][43] The leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross, proposed a coalition of parties supporting Scotland remaining in the United Kingdom, which Sarwar rejected.

[47] Sarwar supports replacing the House of Lords with an elected senate that would represent nations and regions.

In the same month, in an interview with The Times, he talked about the need for growth in order to deliver policies that improve equality and reduce poverty.

[50] During the Israel-Hamas war, Sarwar called for an immediate ceasefire, a policy at odds with that of UK-wide Labour leader Keir Starmer.

[52] Although he was defeated by the incumbent first minister Nicola Sturgeon in Glasgow Southside, he was re-elected as a list MSP.

Sarwar said that candidates would need to stand on a platform of Scotland remaining in the UK, and that "when it comes to Scottish Labour, I’m in charge".

[63] In September 2017, Sarwar transferred his shareholding to a discretionary trust for the benefit of his three children, so that he could not personally access the assets or dividends.