Nigel Farage's grand plan to reindustrialise Wales
'Our ambition is to reindustrialise Wales,' Reform's Nigel Farage announced to a small room lit up with turquoise lights at the back of Port Talbot's Plaza Café. The Reform leader had chosen the ideal place to launch his long campaign for the Senedd next May. The town's last traditional blast furnace closed in October; Farage wants to see them reopened. 'A Reform government based in Cardiff is going to be very different,' he smiled at the assembled press pack. 'It's going to be very, very different indeed.'
Reform UK's campaign in Wales is targeted at working-class, non-graduate voters fed up with their failing public services and lack of opportunity. It's not just industry the party is focusing on here: Farage promised that under a Reform administration, Welsh people would be first in line for social housing. He wants to launch as many trades and skills colleges as possible so that young people from the age of 15 can begin to work in engineering and AI – a move which the Reform leader hopes will lead to further investment in the area.
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The National
30 minutes ago
- The National
It's not enough for SNP to occasionally say ‘independence'
Moving from local to national, there was a call for a constitutional convention from Councillor Murray in The National on Saturday. On the same day in the same paper, Gordon Macintyre-Kemp (Believe in Scotland) called for a new national conversation through a citizens convention. Independence Forum Scotland's Summer Convention on Scotland's Future will take place in Perth this Saturday. It will be their second this year. The grassroots took root, sheltered immediately after 2014, and the movement well continued. And thank (supply your own deity or whatever) for that. It's still the same message from across that movement: independence. It's sad, then, that political parties such as the SNP haven't moved on in tandem with us. The independence message has been diluted, and looking at the most recent rejection last week, it's more a case that the message was missing, again. John Swinney is quoted after the latest failure as saying: 'I thought the SNP was best placed to see off Reform because of the scale of collapse in the Labour vote.' Is it too much to believe (as I have done til now) that the SNP would see off Reform and the other pro-Unionist parties not by asking for a vote just to keep someone else out, but with their laid-out vision for independence? It is their raison d'etre after all. Not heart before head, but by taking the abstract notion of independence and translating that into the positive. It's not enough for the SNP to occasionally say 'independence' like some now tired mantra. Or expect me to click my heels and wish, Dorothy-like. Where is the plan, the strategy, the tactics? Where, when are we reminded of the changes to date that have had a positive impact? The likes of additional child payments, free bus passes, achieved through our government, our parliament, albeit hamstrung via the clever trap that is devolution. Where, when is the current highway robbery situation explained, as energy flows out of Scotland only to be returned at an increased cost to households? Westminster seems to have imposed a tariff on Scotland, having robbed us first! I think even Trump would be impressed with that one! There's no room to say that as this was a local election, indy shouldn't feature. These are all 'local' issues across the 'nation'; indy should always feature. Then to all politicians who say they believe in independence: you need to be connected with the grassroots movement, you have to heed what we say, see what we're doing, realise the strength, the numbers. You need to be prepared to tell folks if it's change you want, then change you'll get with independence, and here's how, here's the plan. The clock is ticking down to 2026. Selma Rahman Edinburgh WHY oh why can't we have simple literature telling the general public that with INDEPENDENCE we will be THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS and THIS better off and rid of THIS, THIS, THIS, THIS and THIS from Westminster that is making us worse off? Ken McCartney Hawick
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
'We are the party of the union who stand up for Scots and want to fix our NHS and schools - NOT Reform,' says Scots Tory leader Findlay
After a bruising by-election result last Thursday, Russell Findlay faces a big week as he attempts to start the fightback for next year's Holyrood elections. The vote in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse showed the scale of the challenge for the Scottish Conservatives, with the party finishing fourth and picking up just six per cent of the vote - a lower vote share than the party even had in the constituency on its darkest night in 1997 when it was wiped off the electoral map north of the Border. The fact that Reform secured more than a quarter of the votes and finished narrowly behind Labour and the SNP worsened the blow.. But the former journalist is now preparing for one of his biggest set piece events since becoming Scottish Tory leader by 'playing Murrayfield' this weekend. He won't quite have the same audience that Oasis will command later in the summer, but the Scottish Conservative conference at the national rugby stadium will be his opportunity to respond to the twin threats of Nigel Farage 's insurgent Reform UK party and an SNP which has been in power for nearly two decades But the former journalist is now preparing for one of his biggest set piece events since becoming Scottish Tory leader by 'playing Murrayfield' this weekend. Mr Findlay, who become leader last September, acknowledges that his party was 'crowded out' in the by-election but insists that a focus on 'common sense' policies and fixing fundamental problems created by 'two decades of SNP misrule' can allow the Scottish Tories to bounce back and help remove John Swinney from office next year. Despite the SNP now being regarded as the Establishment in Scotland following 18 years in power and Reform benefiting from an anti-Establishment backlash, Mr Findlay insists that both are similar in their attempts to capitalise on the same brand of divisive nationalist politics. He said: 'Nigel Farage is just like Swinney and Sturgeon - he's a populist, he will agitate and he will seek to inflame differences between people. 'We've lived with the SNP for decades and we know their tactics, we know what they are up to: they try to pit Scot against Scot and this is what Farage is doing; he's trying to sow division.' Reflecting on the causes of the rise of Reform from nowhere to 26 per cent of the vote in last week's by-election, Mr Findlay accepts that it was partly down to many voters being 'still in no great mood to hear from our party' because 'there is a lot of disappointment with what we got wrong over our time in government' - and also cited frustration at the 'absolute chaos' of the early days of the Labour government. 'I think it has fed this sense that politics is broken, politicians are all the same, and people feel just completely scunnered and I completely get that', he said. 'I see Nigel Farage as a complete and utter chancer but I can see why people think that the parties - my party and other parties - have let them down. 'But a cold analysis of the facts show that we are the party that stands up for the Union, we are the party that stands up for hard-working Scots, we are the ones that want to fix Scots' broken education system and indeed the NHS, not Reform.' In a full throttle attack on the Reform leader, he said Mr Farage 'seems to be more friendly with Vladimir Putin than he is towards the sanctity of the United Kingdom'. 'You just have to look at the chaos engulfing that party to see that it really is a one-man ego trip,' he said. 'He is not remotely interested in Scotland. 'When his deputy (Richard Tice) turned up at a Glasgow chippy and couldn't even tell us the name of the two defectors from our party, I think that was indicative of the complete disinterest they have in Scotland. 'There are also candidates as we know at the general election who were pro-independence, there were candidates who were anti-monarchy. 'Even Nigel Farage can't work out what he is - one minute he's a free market conservative of sorts, the next minute he is a free-spending Corbynite. 'He is essentially the same as the SNP - they are both populists, they will both say anything to anyone and they will blame someone else for their own problems. It has worked for John Swinney for decades and that is what Nigel Farage is doing.' He also criticised the current push from Reform to consider whether there needs to be a ban on wearing the burqa, which engulfed the party in another major row and more infighting. Mr Findlay said: 'It really isn't a very conservative policy to start trying to tell people what they can and can't wear - I mean maybe Nigel Farage will try to ban the kilt next. 'I understand the many circumstances where face coverings are problematic, we've seen that in some of the demonstrations for example, but I think police already have the powers in place to deal with that. 'This call that his new MP (Sarah Pochin) made perhaps betrays the reality of some of the thinking within Reform. It is pretty illiberal to start dictating what you can and can't wear on the streets of Britain - we are a free country. 'It appears to have been policy made up on the hoof, it resulted in the party chairman exiting it seems, and then apparently coming back, but it is something that does not sit at all comfortably with me.' Mr Findlay said he remained largely silent as a race row erupted over Reform UK's advert claiming that Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar would 'prioritise the Pakistani community', saying he didn't want to do anything to 'amplify' its video message, but believes it highlighted Reform have 'nationalist, divisive and unpleasant individuals'. Despite the significant challenge from Reform, he still believes his party can perform well in key target constituencies and on the regional list across Scotland and says he is 'fully committed in 2026 to getting the SNP out and giving Scotland the change it needs'. He rejected claims from Reform defector Thomas Kerr that the Scottish Tories are no longer interested in the central belt, saying it is 'nonsense', and vowed to start winning back voters who have stopped supporting the party. He said: 'The worry I have is that Scotland might seesaw between one form of inefficient wasteful socialist government coloured yellow to one coloured red. We really can't afford to keep putting into power these high-tax parties who have no interest in aspiration and don't have the wherewithal to stand up to the vested interests in the trade unions, for example, whether on education, health and justice. 'We need to show the people of Scotland that there is an alternative way, it doesn't have to be like this, we don't have to accept this miserable mediocrity inflicted on Scotland by the SNP. 'So many people in Scotland are conservative with a small c - they like our policies, we just need to persuade them that putting their cross in the ballot box beside our name is in their best interests.' He also railed against the 'lanyard class' who have dominated Scottish politics, saying he wants to get Holyrood working for the public rather than the politicians. With pressure already growing on the party's leader Kemi Badenoch, he insisted he still has full confidence in her leadership as they both attempt to 'reset' the relationship with the public as part of a major rebuild. While some Tory leaders have at times stayed clear from Scotland during Holyrood election campaigns, Mr Findlay insists Ms Badenoch will 'play a part' even though he will be the 'main focus' leading the push for votes. In a warning shot to plotters at Westminster or Holyrood, he said: 'I think if anyone thinks that further internal plotting is in any way helpful to our party they need their heads examined. 'We need to unite. People are not interested in politicians' or political parties' internal grievances and egos and personalities. It's about putting your shoulder to the wheel and working together to help deliver the results that we need in Holyrood next year and indeed in the next general election.' He concedes that, with the election now less than a year away, a key challenge will be getting himself known - and persuading the public he is different to the other leaders. Until 2021, he was 'deliberately anonymous' as a journalist investigating organised crime, and in 2015 he had acid thrown in his face on the doorstep of his Glasgow home by a hired hitman carrying a knife, in an attack witnessed by his young daughter 'I'm not yet a household name,' he said, although he joked: 'I have been subject to some squirmingly awful BBC parodies so maybe I've reached a sufficient level of fame in the bubble to qualify for acknowledgement.' Although he would rather the focus was on what his party stands for and would rather levels of fame or recognition were not a factor, he accepts it is 'part of modern politics' - and will try to use his own unique selling point of having had a career outside of politics to differentiate him from the other leaders and appeal to those disgruntled voters who want change at Holyrood. Mr Findlay said: 'I'd like to think that me not being a career politician is perhaps a good thing because I can see things from the perspective of ordinary people who are sick and tired of the way Holyrood doesn't address their interests or doesn't seek to fix the problems in their lives.'
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Bigger and better person than Farage? Nigel thinks you're wrong
Relax chaps, Reform is back under control. 'We did hit a speed bump,' Nigel Farage told a press conference in Wales: 'Zia lost his rag, he put out an intemperate comment or two,' but the former party chairman 'expressed his regret' and 'I forgave him.' So, where is he now? Not with us today. But any worry that Zia isn't answering his phone, or that his car was found abandoned in a pond, is misplaced. 'I'm loyal to people all the while they are loyal to me,' said Nigel - who I'm told laid a new patio in the middle of the night - and 'if anybody talks behind my back or betrays my trust, I'll never speak to them again.' Silence across the room. Message received. In that spirit, let me be the first to say, thank you Nigel for pushing the Government to reverse its winter fuel cut, rescuing millions of pensioners from certain death. Proof that you don't have to be in power to make a change - a principle tested with equal courage by Greta Thunberg and her net-weirdo flotilla - till they were 'kidnapped' by the IDF. Conditions in the Israeli prison are described as sub-human - I'm told they only have one flavour of ice-cream - and got worse when the PM rang Tel Aviv to demand that they 'release the sausages'. Imagine Greta's horror when confronted with a buffet of kosher hot dogs and told that there is no vegetarian option. 'Attention-seeking narcissist,' Piers Morgan called her - naked on a giraffe in Trafalgar Square - and it occurred to me that we live in an era of rolling self-owns. Zia quit after a Reform MP floated a burka ban, then returned saying he'd probably ban it himself. Greta's boat claimed it was sprayed with a 'white irritant substance' - when it was crewed by white irritants. And the Government, having banked everything on 'clearing up the Tory mess', reverses a winter fuel cut it previously said was necessary to avoid economic Armageddon. 'When should the City of London… expect the run on the pound?' asked Conservative Simon Hoare in the Commons. The minister sent on the suicide mission to defend this U-turn, a child soldier called Torsten Bell, oozed oily self-confidence, yet his hands trembled. He has only two modes of performance: bemused and angry, the latter red-faced and nose-twitching as he declared the opposition has 'no plan'. Prior to being in government, Torsten ran a think tank of the 'Paddington loves a wealth tax' variety and made popular videos about how one could abolish poverty by taxing Pimms – so watching him struggle with the realities of power (like Greta trying to explain the dangers of carbon to an Israeli interrogator) is a joy. If you can throw money at pensioners, asked Left-wing MPs, why not benefits for poor parents and the disabled? 'All levers are on the table,' Bell replied. Does the boy dream in meaningless cliches, too?! No wonder Wales is flirting with Reform, a land that values language and big characters. 'There are people,' said Farage, 'who think they are bigger and better than me.' Well, they're not. And proof is that if you ring Zia's number, Nigel's patio plays La Cucaracha.
