Scots now so scunnered they want to set the world on fire with Reform

The Herald Scotland

3 days ago

It's the same impulse that prompts people to take to the streets with Molotov cocktails or creep out of their beds in the dead of the night and fell a centuries-old sycamore. They are acts born of frustration and battered self-esteem, and they provide a temporary release.
But then you wake up and see that nothing has changed. Except now the last community centre on your estate has all its windows panned in, and there's a vast emptiness where once there stood a tree. If the panic of SNP and Labour canvassers is anything to go by, the constituency of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse is teetering on the brink of just such self-immolation.
In the by-election prompted by the death of Christina McKelvie, it now seems likely Reform will come second, and no longer inconceivable it could win, giving Holyrood its first Reform MSP.
In a dilapidated street next to a shuttered off-licence, Nigel Farage's gurning face leers down from a billboard that reads 'Hamilton Needs Reform'. If the party does well, it won't be down to his personality; polls and vox pops suggest most Scottish voters still consider him 'an a***hole'.
It will be because some people are so scunnered with the calcification of Scottish politics, they want to set the world on fire, while others are too scunnered to head to the polling booths and extinguish the blaze. This didn't happen with Ukip. In 2016, Scotland seemed largely immune to the allure of British nationalism, rejecting its manifesto of xenophobia and backing Remain by a ratio of 3:2.
For a significant number of people back then, the answer to Farage's question: 'Who is really running [your] country?' wasn't Europe, but Westminster, while the anti-establishment party promising to cut them loose was the SNP.
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ALMOST 10 years on, the SNP *is* the establishment party, tarnished by fraud allegations and paralysed by its own longevity.
It failed to deliver on its promises, just as Labour had done before it, leaving its voters in a pilotless plane, floundering around for the eject button. For some in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, the eject button appears to be Reform, which is running neck and neck with Labour nationally.
But we already know — from bitter experience — that populist leaders like Farage and Donald Trump build their electoral brand on a tissue of hate and lies. They offer us scapegoats and an outlet for our (self) contempt.
They dangle the illusion of control in front of our faces like a hypnotist's watch. They conjure up six impossible things before breakfast. They swear they'll make our country great again while bringing it to its knees.
Those who vote for them drink at a waterhole they know has been poisoned, then complain when they suffer convulsions.We have been handed lesson after lesson on how this ends.
We have watched while Brexit wrecked trade, reduced EU immigration (but not net migration, despite Farage's odious 'Breaking Point' poster) and distanced us from Europe at precisely the point where Russia's invasion of Ukraine required a show of strength.
What happened to the £350m a week that was supposed to transform the NHS? Where is the promised renaissance of marginalised working class enclaves like Sunderland? Lies, lies and more lies: that's all these parties offer.
And if Brexit doesn't convince you, just look across the Atlantic: US citizens deported, foreign leaders antagonised, democracy hijacked. There's no dividend for those who voted Republican. According to various studies, the average family will be $4,000 dollars a year worse off as a result of Trump's tariffs.
Around 275,000 people lost their jobs in March alone. Is your life in a rut? Do you crave upheaval? Well this is what it looks like, and it ain't pretty.
In Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, the lies and race-baiting has already begun. Last week, Farage produced an ad that claimed Anas Sarwar had promised to prioritise the Pakistani community when he had done no such thing.
It's a slander to falsely accuse another person of an obsession with race, and a piece of hypocrisy when the obsession is yours and yours alone. But Farage doesn't care. Rather he thrives on it because whipping up hatred is what he does best.
He doesn't care that his policies don't stack up economically either, because he knows people believe what they want to believe, and because he presents himself as a free spirit, unshackled by focus groups and the other constraints of traditional party policies.
Nationally and locally, Labour hasn't done itself any favours. Starmer allowed the Reform leader to dictate the terms of the debate, chasing his anti-immigration policies and rhetoric up a blind alley. Now Farage is nipping at the heels of Starmer's U-turns, pledging to end the two-child cap and reinstate the winter fuel payments. Only *Farage* didn't prevaricate for the best part of a year, nor is he obliged to demonstrate how he would fund them.
Refused to appear
IN Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, the party has sold itself short by fielding a candidate who seems to wish he was anywhere but a parliamentary election.
At a time when all left-ish parties should be waging war on the right, Davy Russell has refused to appear at hustings and an STV debate.
He appears apathetic about the prospect of ceding second place to Reform's Ross Lambie. Lambie's campaign statement includes the line: 'We are not daft; we know someone is up to no good if they'd rather spend £5,000 on being illegally smuggled into the country than spend £50 on a budget flight,' which makes no sense at all.
The SNP have played a better game (aided by Labour who have gifted them the opportunity to call the contest 'a two-horse race').
In Katy Loudon, they have a decent candidate, and — while Labour are tussling over the same turf — they have set themselves up in opposition.
Describing Farage as a 'clear and present danger', John Swinney said: 'It's time to unite behind our shared principles…and refuse to be divided by a man determined to destroy the values we hold dear.'
This line is likely to be effective with liberal metropolitan types (like me) although disenfranchised voters who want a break from the status quo might prefer him to focus on what can be done to breathe life back into the constituency.One clever move has been to draw attention to Reform's antipathy towards the Scottish Parliament.
Swinney says Farage would use the party's Holyrood MSPs to bring down the institution they had been elected to. Perhaps Farage thinks this would be popular given Scots' own frustrations. But — like members of a fractious family — it's fine for us to rain curses down upon our 'tinpot' parliament, but hell mend any outsider who tries to diminish it.
Devolution fears
FARAGE should remember that, in 1997, devolution was not contentious; it was the settled will of the nation.
Relinquishing power prised from Westminster would be a funny way for us to take back control.
Perhaps voters leaning Reform-wards see a vote for Lambie as a one-off protest - something they can rescind at next year's Holyrood elections. But Farage's party has a particular momentum right now and once that juggernaut starts careening down the hill, it will be difficult to stop.
The same is true of attacks on Holyrood. Sure, we should be pushing Scottish politicians to raise their game; but if we were to allow devolution to slip from our grasp, it would be difficult to reclaim it. It's something that requires protection, like democracy, as America is discovering to its cost.