Reform's charm offensive on Nationalists calls its Unionist credentials into question
The question arises because if it is, why is it seeking to recruit overtly nationalist recruits – you know people who have in the past supported, or who continue to back, an independent Scotland – to its ranks of parliamentarians?
In recent days, I was told by a prominent nationalist that they had been on the receiving end of a blatant 'join us' offer from Reform. It was made plain that joining the party's ranks was, given its current strength in the opinion polls, a sure-fire way of winning a seat in the Scottish Parliament elections next May.
My informant was surprised by the approach and rejected the invitation out of hand.
Polls point to SNP continuing in power
It is certainly true that the current polls point to Reform winning as many as 16 seats at Holyrood, six more than the Scottish Tories, which would make it he third biggest party, equal with the Scottish Greens, in the 129-seat assembly.
The SNP is expected to be the biggest party but without an overall majority, which would mean that Reform and the Scottish Greens would be able to decide who would become First Minister. That would be expected to be John Swinney, the current holder of the office, which would take the SNP into its third decade of government in Scotland.
Although Richard Tice, Mr Farage's deputy, is on the record as saying that Reform would block any attempt by the SNP to stage another independence referendum, the Reform leader has already made it plain that there are no circumstances in which he will do a deal with Anas Sarwar, the Labour leader, saying he did not want Mr Sarwar as first minister.
He accepted that this was likely to mean the SNP again forming the Scottish Government but in a newspaper interview he said he was not worried about the SNP, adding: 'Scotland is not going to leave the UK.'
However, his confidence is not shared by the other parties, who claim that Reform's entry into the race is a boost for the SNP.
Farage has eyes on England, claim opponents
According to both Tory and Labour sources, there are already at least five or six pro-independence candidates – those who are known to have voted for independence in the 2014 referendum – standing for Reform in winnable Scottish Parliament seats.
The Conservatives – both north and south of the border – have the word 'Unionist' in their official title, Labour constantly re-states its commitment to oppose any form of a separate Scotland and, traditionally, generally needs Scottish MPs to form a government at Westminster.
But while those two are happy to constantly re-affirm their commitment to the Union, there are many in what Mr Farage calls the 'old parties' who believe that while he's going hell for leather to form a British government, what he really wants is to be at the top of an English government.
As for the Scots, I can almost hear some Reform-ites muttering: 'Well, they can go and do whatever they like.' And, to be fair, I understand there might be several people not necessarily attached to Reform who would be glad to be rid of the 'Scottish problem'.
'We shouldn't really be too surprised by any of this,' claimed one former minister. 'After all he (Farage) is an English nationalist.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
30 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Salmond cleared of historic sexual assault claims as police end probe
Police Scotland are to take 'no further action' over a historic sexual assault allegation levelled at Alex Salmond after his death. The force received a complaint about the former first minister shortly after he suffered a fatal heart attack in North Macedonia in October aged 69. After investigating the report, the police have now cleared the former Alba leader. In a statement, the force said: 'Following a report of a non-recent sexual assault, enquiries were carried out and no further action will be taken.' Mr Salmond, who led the SNP for 20 years and was first minister from 2007 to 2014, was cleared of 13 sexual offence counts at a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in March 2020. Earlier misconduct claims made against him by two female civil servants led to a massive falling out with his protégé Nicola Sturgeon and a split in the Nationalist movement. In 2018, Mr Salmond resigned from the SNP after the claims emerged and challenged a Scottish Government probe into them. His successful judicial review showed the in-house inquiry had been unfair, unlawful and 'tainted by apparent bias', and he was awarded £512,00 in legal costs. He launched Alba on the eve of the 2021 Holyrood election as a pro-independence rival to his old party, but it has remained a political minnow and has yet to have a candidate elected. Alba MSP Ash Regan welcomed Police Scotland's decision. She told the Daily Record: 'Alex Salmond died with his reputation intact as a titan of Scottish politics. Alex can no longer defend himself, yet some remain determined to smear his name. 'It is time to let him rest, grant his wife Moira and his family the closure they deserve and draw a line so his legacy can be remembered with dignity.' Dr Nick McKerrell, a senior law lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University, told the paper that investigating alleged crimes by dead people was 'not without precedent'. 'While the police 'obviously have difficulties with the absence of the key participants, there still can be public interest in carrying it out even though there can be no prosecution'.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Trump visits Federal Reserve after attacks on Powell
Donald Trump is to tour the Federal Reserve as he ramps up pressure on chairman Jerome Powell. The president is expected to arrive at the central bank at 4pm Washington time (9pm UK) to inspect renovation works. The overhaul has become increasingly contentious in recent weeks, amid speculation Mr Trump is seeking to use cost overruns on the project as an excuse to oust Mr Powell. Mr Trump has been campaigning for months to get the Fed to cut interest rates, posting a regular stream of invective against Mr Powell on his Truth Social online platform. This week he called for Fed's benchmark rate to be 3 percentage points lower than the 4.25pc to 4.5pc rate it is now. The Fed's reluctance to move until it gauges the inflationary effect of Mr Trump's tariffs has prompted the president to repeatedly threaten to sack Mr Powell before his term as Fed chairman ends next May. American law prevents the president from ejecting the Fed boss for reasons related to monetary policy. The only potentially legal cause for removal would be 'inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance'. Mr Trump is also wary of provoking a market meltdown if he is seen to attack the bank's independence on monetary policy. This has prompted the White House to look for other potential triggers – and they have alighted on the controversial renovation project at the Fed's Washington headquarters. The cost of the works was budgeted at $1.9bn (£1.4bn) when the project began in 2021, but has blown out to $2.5bn. The Fed has said that higher post-pandemic costs for labour and materials were responsible, along with unexpected expenses related to asbestos removal and toxic soil contamination. But Mr Trump's senior aides have claimed the project is extravagant and wasteful. They alleged the plans included VIP dining rooms, executive elevators, water features and roof gardens – claims largely rejected by the Fed. Several senior officials have sought to keep up the pressure by arranging to tour the building site and inspect the works personally. Mr Trump has now opted to join them. The president has suggested he is unlikely to try and oust the chairman 'unless he has to leave for fraud'. Several of Mr Trump's aides, including those leading the campaign against the Fed, are in the frame to replace Mr Powell.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Yvette Cooper condemns Nigel Farage's criticisms of police
Yvette Cooper has condemned Reform UK for criticising the policing of protests outside a hotel for asylum seekers. The home secretary said officers deserved public support instead because they kept the country safe. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, called for Ben-Julian Harrington, the chief constable of Essex, to resign after his force escorted anti-fascist protesters through a crowd of people demonstrating against migrants. But Cooper said: 'The police do a really important job across our country keeping people safe. It is really important frankly that people support our police rather than just attacking them continually. As we have seen, Reform is one day calling for chief constables to resign, the next it is attacking women police officers who are out on our streets every single day of the week.' Farage has repeatedly weighed into the debate about the Epping migrant hotel and said earlier this week: 'Hard-left groups, Stand Up To Racism and Antifa, were given the red carpet treatment by Essex police, with the force literally escorting and bussing masked thugs to and from the protest. They have been caught redhanded helping to light the fuse that led to violence.' Harrington said Reform's claims were 'categorically wrong' and that officers had organised a cordon around activists exercising their right to protest. Dal Babu, a former chief superintendent for the Metropolitan police, said Farage's claims were wrong and he should correct the public record amid rising tensions. 'British values mean if a politician makes a mistake, they put their hand up and acknowledge it. He knows it is false,' Babu said. Police arrested 16 people after a heated protest last week outside the Bell hotel in Epping, where another demonstration was held on Thursday evening. Hundreds of protesters, including many women and children, began marching from Epping town centre to the hotel at around 6pm in heavy rain. A ramped-up police operation included fences and a ban on the wearing of facial coverings. Activists from the far-right Homeland group were behind an Epping Says No! Facebook group that has been behind much of the promotion of the protests. Members of Patriotic Alternative and White Vanguard have also been involved. While politicians have largely stayed away from the protest, two Reform councillors were present outside the Epping hotel last week, including James Regan who claimed in an interview that 'they're trying to dilute the Englishness out of us'. The Guardian also found evidence that a Reform official shared a platform in Epping with an agitator from Homeland. In last year's summer riots, Keir Starmer, the prime minister, called out 'far-right thuggery' and pledged to bring those involved to justice. However, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, said on Thursday that many of the Epping protesters were 'upset for legitimate reasons'. Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, told the cabinet earlier this week that immigration and deprivation were among the main factors causing public disenchantment with politicians. There is already a taskforce on community cohesion, informed by experts and officials, while a £1.5bn 'plan for neighbourhoods' aims to invest in 75 deprived areas over the next decade. Sign up to Headlines UK Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Some Labour MPs are concerned that political and media language about the UK being on the brink of social unrest might be raising tensions rather than encouraging cohesion. Stella Creasy, the Labour MP for Walthamstow, said on Thursday that if people were 'unsettled by the political and press debate around immigration, law and order, the idea that there could be race riots again, you are completely right to be concerned because this discussion in itself is raising fear and uncertainty and tension'. She added: 'It is dividing us and feeding this myth that Britain is a nation that cannot manage diversity rather than one that draws strength from it.' Brendan Cox, whose wife, Jo, a Labour MP, was murdered by a far-right extremist, said the UK needed a longer-term strategy on social cohesion. 'There is a set of local concerns around this in Epping and it's also true that these are being co-opted and used by elements of the far right,' said Cox, who is the convener of an independent commission on community. 'It's no surprise that happens when there are these kind of festering legitimate concerns and successive governments are seen to not act on those. But the broad point I'd make is that we've published a report about there being a tinderbox … and I think what's really clear is that we don't really have any long-term cohesion strategy at all.' Nick Lowles, of the Hope not Hate campaign group, said: 'We are concerned that policing has not caught up with the new post-organisation nature of the far right, where individuals can emerge and play a role on social media and inciting or directing violence, without ever being a member of a far-right organisation.' David Blunkett, the Labour peer and former home secretary, said policing unrest fuelled by the far right was always difficult but the key was 'specialist dog-trained police units and an online understanding of what they are doing' – as well as the Home Office involving MI5 at an early stage. The Epping protest was sparked by the charging of Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, a 38-year-old asylum seeker, with sexual assault over allegedly trying to kiss a girl of 14. He denied the charge at Chelmsford magistrates court and will stand trial next month. A Reform official would not answer questions about sharing a platform with the far right or about Cooper's claims that the party should back the police. Instead the spokesperson said the Guardian 'cares more about attacking Reform UK than defending young girls who are being abused by illegal boat migrants'.
