Nigel Farage to campaign in Scotland today for first time in six years as Reform UK targets Hamilton by-election

Scottish Sun

2 days ago

Mr Farage laughed off the suggestion that there would be a spike in support for independence if he ever became Prime Minister
CAMPAIGN TRIP Nigel Farage to campaign in Scotland today for first time in six years as Reform UK targets Hamilton by-election
NIGEL Farage is set to visit Scotland today for the first time in six years in a bid to drum up support for Reform UK in the Hamilton by-election this week.
The party leader will visit Aberdeen before he travels down to South Lanarkshire for an afternoon of campaigning in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.
2
Nigel Farage is set to visit Scotland today
Credit: Getty
2
It comes as the First Minister said Mr Farage 'doesn't care about Scotland'
Credit: Alamy
It's the first time the Clacton MP has ventured north of the border since 2019, when he was campaigning for The Brexit Party.
A recent survey by Norstat revealed that there has been a rise in support for Reform UK, according to the Daily Record.
New data shows that one in five Scots are now planning to vote for the party as support for Labour collapses.
However, despite this, Mr Farage talked down Reform's chances of winning in the crunch by-election in the Lanarkshire constituency, which is entering its final days.
But he did urge pro-union voters to rally round their candidate Ross Lambie in the battle with SNP's Katy Loudon.
The SNP and Labour were seen as frontrunners in the seat in the contest, but Reform UK entered the mix ahead of the vote.
The survey also found that 58 per cent of Scots said they would support independence if Mr Farage ever became Prime Minister.
However, speaking exclusively to the Scottish Sun, Mr Farage laughed off the suggestion there would be a spike in support for independence if he took over from Sir Keir Starmer.
Mr Farage said: 'I've heard all this before. I heard that if people voted Brexit, the UK would be gone by 2020. But it seems to me it's just about still there.
'The Scottish establishment can hold me up to be the bogeyman, they'll go on doing all those things.
Farage goads 'terrified' Starmer & says Tories are 'finished'
'But if people actually listen to what I have to say, they will not draw the conclusions that Swinney has drawn that this is somehow a racist, intolerant movement.
'They'll not draw the conclusion that I want to destroy the planet. What I'm offering people actually is down-to-earth pragmatism.'
It comes as the First Minister said Mr Farage "doesn't care about Scotland", as party rivals ramp up their attacks on Reform UK ahead of his visit.
The party has come in for criticism for how it has campaigned in the seat, with attack ads on Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar being branded racist.
Both of the frontrunners for the Hamilton by-election have also turned their attacks on Reform, with Mr Sarwar describing Mr Farage as a "poisonous little man" and John Swinney accusing him of bringing "racism and hatred" to the South Lanarkshire race.
As campaigning enters its final days, Mr Swinney warned of the potential threat from Reform, saying: "Things remain tough for too many families who feel let down by Labour - who have given up in this campaign - and the deeply concerning rise in support for Farage.
"Be in no doubt, Nigel Farage doesn't care about Scotland. He poses a threat to our values and must be stopped, and only the SNP can do that.
"In this by-election, the SNP is the only party investing in Scotland's future, delivering for families and confronting Farage. On Thursday, vote SNP to stop Farage."
Mr Swinney touted his own Government's record, including free prescriptions, free tuition and free bus travel for the young and the elderly, as well as plans to scrap peak rail fares and mitigate the two-child benefit cap.
He said: "On the final week of campaigning in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, it's clear which party is on Scotland's side.
'TRUST GONE' IN SNP
FIVE weeks ago Mr Swinney hosted a cross-party summit on locking the far right out of Scots politics — with Reform specifically excluded.
Blasting the SNP leader, Mr Farage said: 'He can't be a democrat if he cuts out a party that is polling at 20 per cent in local council by-elections in Scotland.
'His behaviour with the summit and his weekend comments suggest he's very, very worried indeed.'
He also accused Mr Swinney of being one of a group of politicians who make promises at elections but 'haven't even got the slightest intent of actually carrying them out'.
Mr Farage added: 'It's saying to the electorate, we will do X, Y, Z, and them believing you will. That's where the trust has gone missing.
'The SNP promised competence in government and haven't delivered it.'
Mr Swinney's comments come as his party's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said Mr Farage was "just as dangerous to Scotland's long-term energy and economic future as the activists who would shut down the oil and gas industry tomorrow".
The comments sparked fury from Mr Farage, who said they were 'highly, willfully provocative'and also accused the Nats of 'anti-Englishness'.
In 2013, the then-Ukip leader was forced on four occasions to flee a group of protesters in Edinburgh as he faced a tirade of abuse.
Attacking the late ex-SNP leader Alex Salmond's lack of apology at the time, he added: 'That was the really ugly face of nationalism.'
Mr Farage said he hoped there won't be any repeat on Monday, adding: 'Swinney's words are deeply provocative, which suggests the SNP leadership has learned nothing.
'It suggests there is still that sort of quite unpleasant anti-Englishness.
'WE'RE ON A ROLL'
AS support for Reform UK increases in Scotland, Mr Farage has said hopes they will "become a fully-blown political party in Scotland
He said: 'We're definitely on a roll, there's momentum.
"I hope after Thursday we become a fully-blown political party in Scotland.
'This is our growing-up moment. In the by-election, we're probably well ahead of Labour.
'We'd encourage Conservative and Labour voters who don't like what the SNP have done in government, and don't want separation, to vote for us in what is a two-horse race.'
He also called on the UK to spend more on defence to keep US President Donald Trump onside — claiming Sir Keir Starmer's push to spend three per cent of GDP by 2034 was 'not quite enough'.
Reform's chief insisted that target should be hit by 2030 'if we are to command the continued respect of our American friends, without whom we are defenceless'.
'Why on earth would the top man in Scottish politics come out with those sort of insults?'
The first real test of Reform's strength in Scotland is on Thursday in a vote sparked by the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie.
A weekend Norstat poll suggested the SNP would win 54 seats, Labour 20, Reform 18, Tories 17, Lib Dems 11 and the Greens nine.
It will be a key indicator a year out from Holyrood's next election.
Mr Farage has long been an opponent of net zero, while his deputy Richard Tice told the PA news agency one of his party's key policies ahead of the Holyrood elections next year would be to push for increased oil extraction.
Responding, a spokesman for Reform UK said: "The SNP's hostile environment to oil and gas has been holding Scotland back for decades.
"From standing idly by whilst the Grangemouth refinery closed, to opposing oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, the SNP have not only failed to realise the countless jobs that could be created in the sector, but also sacrificed hundreds of jobs on the altar of their net zero obsession."