Reform by-election candidate denies Anas Sarwar ad is racist
However, Ross Lambie said the claim that the Scottish Labour leader will 'prioritise' the Pakistani community was 'a quote from us' rather than Sarwar.
The controversial advert has been condemned by other political parties, with First Minister John Swinney describing it as 'racist' and calling for Meta to take it down.
The video claims the Scottish Labour leader will 'prioritise' the Pakistani community in Scotland, as it plays clips of the politician urging more people from South Asian backgrounds to get involved in politics.
READ MORE: Comment: Thatcherism's toxic legacy lives on in Reform UK
Voters go to the polls next week in the Scottish Parliament by-election, which was called following the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie.
Swinney has said the contest is likely to be 'very tight' between the SNP, Scottish Labour and Reform UK. Nigel Farage's party does not currently have any MSPs.
Lambie, who is a councillor in South Lanarkshire, was pressed on his party's online ad when he appeared on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme on Tuesday.
He said disaffected voters are turning to his party, adding: 'If you look at Parliament, there's a lot of young faces that don't seem to know what they're doing.
'So people look at Nigel (Farage), they like Nigel's bullish attitude on how to make this country great again.'
He was questioned on his claim of there being an 'open door' migration policy in the UK, saying immigration figures are 'out of control'.
Asked about the video's claim that Sarwar will 'prioritise' the Pakistani community, he said 'that's a quote from us'.
It was put to Lambie that Sarwar does not use these words in the video clip, with the Reform candidate saying: 'We're not misleading people at all, all we've done is share two clips of Anas Sarwar's own speech.'
Lambie said prioritising the Pakistani community 'was what the whole speech was about' and Sarwar was merely 'deflecting'.
The Reform councillor denied the video amounts to racism, saying it shows 'another example of the two-tier society that the Left are trying to build in this country…
READ MORE: Reform UK are a real and present danger in Scotland
'People should be in positions of power based on merit and their contribution to society. We shouldn't be trying to foist various minority groups into, you know, into position.'
The LibDem candidate in the election, Aisha Mir, earlier told the programme that the video is 'scummy tactics'.
The SNP's candidate is Katy Loudon, who was campaigning alongside Swinney on Monday.
Asked about the Scottish Government's funding for local councils, she said: 'I'm never going to sit and not argue for more funding for local authorities.'
Loudon also responded to an attack from Labour – whose candidate is Davy Russell – that she had voted against funding for Hamilton's town centre, saying: 'What we're talking about here is one line in a Labour amendment at South Lanarkshire's budget.
'I'm very proud, not only of the record of our SNP group at South Lanarkshire council, but what we have chosen to back.'
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Daily Mirror
16 minutes ago
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The Independent
19 minutes ago
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FaithofOurFathers A: I think that there is a realistic possibility that Nigel Farage could be prime minister after the next election, in which case I would have thought that Labour's traditional supporters would want Keir Starmer to do whatever was necessary to avoid this outcome. I don't think it is 'lurching to the right' to take the issue of immigration seriously. Q: Is it not simply that Farage promises the earth to an electorate credulous enough and desperate enough to believe it? AFTGTSIV A: There is an element of that in all democratic politics. I wrote repeatedly before last year's election that neither Labour nor the Tories had plans for tax and spending that added up. But there are degrees of pie in the sky. Since the Liz Truss experiment, both the main parties have accepted the need in principle for planned debt to be falling as a share of national income over the medium term. The Reform prospectus is so far away from that that Keir Starmer is wholly justified in mentioning Truss when criticising Reform as often as he can. Q: How does the structure of Reform differ from other parties? avidmidlandsreader A: Reform is no longer a private company; it is a company limited by guarantee, a non-profit body with no shareholders. It has a normal-ish party constitution, although clearly in practice it remains very much the personal vehicle of Nigel Farage. Q: Why is the media giving Farage so much oxygen? Nomoneyinthebank A: A lot of people have asked a version of this question. A party that has the support of 30 per cent of those intending to vote has to be taken seriously. It represents millions of people who feel that they have been let down by the two main parties, and who feel that neither the Lib Dems nor the Greens, nor in Scotland and Wales the nationalists, have the answer. It is true that the Lib Dems and the Greens do not get as much attention from journalists, although the Lib Dems have far more seats in parliament and the Greens have almost as many as Reform. I personally think that the Lib Dems ought to be scrutinised more, but journalism is mostly driven by what readers want to read, what listeners want to listen to and what viewers want to watch.
