White working-class boys do not enjoy any more advantages in life simply because of the colour of their skin, Anas Sarwar has claimed.

The Scottish Labour leader said that while the notion of 'white privilege' has been commonly debated, young males living in deprived areas such as Glasgow were statistically more likely to die younger than those from wealthier backgrounds.

Sarwar, who was privately educated and is the son of Pakistani migrant parents, told The Herald: 'We talk a lot about inequality and prejudice in this country, and challenging it, whether it be homophobia, racism, religious prejudice.

'But there's also a huge inequality in this country that we haven't confronted for generations'.

Speaking about how an individual's postcode was more likely to affect their life chances than their skin colour, he added: 'How can anyone say that a young white working-class boy in some parts of Glasgow, who automatically because of his postcode, has a 15-year shorter life expectancy, has some kind of privilege? They don't.' 

Sarwar, son of Britain's first Muslim MP and prominent businessman Mohammad Sarwar, also revealed he had gone into politics after working for years as a dentist in the working-class communities of Paisley.

He recalled how 'chronic, structural inequality' had led to many lacking the right access to education, resulting in unemployment and drug addiction. 

The 42-year-old was speaking in the wake of the latest polls which claim Reform UK is set to become Scotland's second-largest party at Holyrood elections in May. 

A survey of more than 1,000 Scottish voters, conducted by Survation for the Diffley Partnership, forecast Nigel Farage's party will win 19 seats in the Scottish Parliament.

This would put it ahead of Sarwar's Labour (18 seats), the Tories (13 seats), the Scottish Greens (10 seats) and the Liberal Democrats (7 seats), the research found. 

The poll also projected the SNP would win 62 seats at the Holyrood contests on 7 May, which would leave the nationalist party three seats short of a majority.

The survey of 1,068 people, carried out between 16 to 23 March, put the SNP on 35 per cent support in the Holyrood constituency vote and 32 per cent in the regional list.

There is an expectation that a disastrous result for Labour in Scotland, as well as in elections in England and Wales in May, will prompt an effort to oust Sir Keir among Labour MPs.

Sarwar previously called for the Prime Minister to quit in February, saying there had been 'too many mistakes'.