Scottish councillors defect to Reform during Farage trip

The Herald Scotland

2 days ago

Instead, Mr Farage posted a photo on X of himself meeting activists at the party's campaign headquarters on Quarry Street.
By the time journalists — instructed to gather at the Premier Inn car park for a 2.15pm press call — made their way to the office, Mr Farage had already left for the airport.
Labour branded the Reform leader a "coward".
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The no-show came just hours after a fiery press conference in Aberdeen, where Mr Farage made his first campaign appearance in Scotland in several years.
There, he wrongly claimed The Herald had shared details of the event with protesters — a claim dismissed as 'ridiculous' by the title's editor, Catherine Salmond.
Mr Farage boarding his private jet (Image: James Chapelard) Answering questions from journalists, he defended a widely condemned campaign video accused of being both racist and misleading.
The advert, posted on Facebook and Instagram earlier this month, used edited footage from a 2022 speech by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who had called for greater South Asian representation in politics.
Reform's version added captions suggesting Mr Sarwar had pledged to 'prioritise' the Pakistani community — a phrase he did not use.
Mr Farage insisted the speech was 'sectarian in nature', and accused Mr Sarwar of having 'a record of obsession' with race. He cited a 2020 Holyrood speech in which the Labour leader noted that most senior figures in Scotland's public sector — judges, headteachers, council bosses — were white.
'Reform UK do not talk about race at all,' Mr Farage said. 'Our chairman, Zia Yusuf, is Scottish-born, but comes from parents who come from the Indian subcontinent. We think everybody should be treated equally. We object, very strongly, to the segmentation of people into different types.'
He added: 'I think that speech he gave was sectarian in its very nature — 'we are the South Asian community, we are going to take over the country and take over the world'. We believe what he said was a form of sectarian politics and we do not like it one little bit.'
(Image:) The by-election, triggered by the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie in March, takes place on Thursday. The SNP is favourite to retain the seat, but both Labour and Reform believe they have momentum.
However, on Monday, Mr Farage conceded victory was 'improbable'.
'If we win this by-election, it would be the biggest earthquake Scottish politics has ever seen,' he said. He insisted Reform could still place second and 'shake up' Scottish politics.
During the visit, he also announced two new defections to his party: Duncan Massey, a former Conservative councillor in Aberdeen, and Jamie McGuire, who previously represented Labour on Renfrewshire Council.
Mr McGuire is the first Scottish Labour councillor to defect to Reform.
Mr Farage also used the trip to Aberdeen to criticise UK and Scottish government net zero targets and current energy policies, claiming they were destroying jobs in the oil and gas sector.
'Parts of Scotland, England and Wales are literally deindustrialising before our very eyes,' he said. 'The madness of this is almost completely and utterly beyond belief.'
Mr Farage also suggested he would scrap the Barnett formula — the mechanism used by the UK Treasury to allocate Scotland's block grant — describing it as 'out of date'.
'What I would like to see is a Scottish Government that is able to raise a bit more of its own revenue and a Scottish economy that has actually got genuine growth — and I do not believe that can happen without this sector [oil and gas] booming,' he said.
'I think, you know, the Barnett formula goes back to the 1970s. Is there an argument it should be looked at again? Of course there is.
'But I mean, frankly, if you look at welfare dependency, if you look at educational standards… the £50 billion this year — roughly what the figure is going to be — going to Scotland, it is not going to reduce in the short term until Scotland actually starts to have an economy that is thriving, and right now it is going in completely the wrong direction.'
Mr Farage also claimed criticism from SNP leader John Swinney amounted to 'anti-Englishness'.
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Meanwhile, Mr Sarwar — speaking to journalists in Hamilton — addressed the abuse he has faced throughout his career, including recent attacks from Reform.
'To be honest, it only motivates me and drives me, and makes me want to work even harder,' he said.
Mr Sarwar, who grew up in Glasgow as the son of Mohammad Sarwar, the UK's first Muslim MP, said some of the rhetoric being used today was reminiscent of what his family faced in the 1990s and 2000s.
'I think what gives me a bit more perspective is there were similar kinds of attacks, not identical, but similar, when I was growing up and my father was trying to be a politician — when he was trying to get elected as the country's first Muslim MP — and there were threats, there was abuse, there was violence at that time,' he said.
'I think that probably has added resilience for me, and therefore it is water off a duck's back.
'I think the challenge is, where I feel a wee bit of guilt and where I feel a wee bit of trepidation, is the impact it has on my kids.'
Mr Sarwar said that during his father's time in office, 'there were things that I accepted as normal that were not normal' — things he fears his own children may now have to accept.
'I am doing it for them,' he added, 'in the sense that I genuinely fear about what the future of Scotland is unless we get some fundamental change.'
He also took aim at Mr Farage's campaign visit, saying: 'Today, the chief clown Nigel Farage finally found his way to Scotland and showed just how totally out of touch with our country he is.
'Nigel Farage turned up, admitted he cannot win the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, and pledged to cut funding for Scotland's NHS and public services.
'Nigel Farage is a dangerous clown and the people of Scotland see right through him.'
From l-r, Davy Russell, Eilidh Mclay, Anas Sarwar (Image: Jane Barlow/PA Wire)An SNP source described the Reform leader's visit as a 'disaster'.
They said: 'Nigel Farage does not care about Scotland.
'He comes here for a day-trip, admits he wants to cut Scotland's budget, dodges media scrutiny and cannot even be bothered to campaign. It has been a complete disaster.
'The SNP campaign has taken our message of delivery and hope to the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, where the media have always been allowed access to scrutinise politicians. That is democracy."
Scottish Labour's Jackie Baillie said: 'Nigel Farage has bottled it proving what we have known for years - he is a coward.
'Farage's day saw him admit he can't win the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, announce that he would slash funding for Scotland's NHS and public services, and then do a runner.
'Clown."
On the ground in Hamilton town centre, voters expressed mixed views on the candidates.
Joshua Irwin, 17, a first-time voter, said he would not be backing Reform. 'I do not like what they stand for,' he told The Herald. 'Anything from Reform that comes into the house goes straight to the bin.' However, he remained undecided between the SNP and Labour.
Chef Liam Riley, 27, said he was minded to support Reform, despite backing independence in 2014. 'I do not like what is happening to Hamilton. There is nothing here. No opportunities. I just want to leave the UK,' he said.
While he still supports independence, he feels no progress has been made. 'I am also concerned about immigration. I think it needs to be managed better.'