Nigel Farage addressed the biggest Reform UK rally held in Scotland to date, but declined to speak with local journalists afterwards. Instead, newly defected peer Malcolm Offord was left to field questions on claims of discriminatory behaviour and anti-Jewish sentiment surrounding the party leader.
Welcoming a New Recruit
Farage introduced the ex-Tory lord and wealthy businessman during a sold-out rally of about 700 supporters in a hotel venue in central Scotland. Offord, who served as a Scotland Office minister in the previous administration and most recently served as treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, stated his plan to give up his peerage in order to become a candidate for the party in next May’s Holyrood elections.
The leader stated he was “delighted” to greet Offord to the party. He described the switch as “a courageous and significant move”.
Dodging the Press
The Reform leader addressed the rally after a turbulent week which saw him launch a tirade against the BBC for questioning him regarding a report into alleged racist and remarks from his teenage years. But, the leader avoided a planned media briefing post-rally.
Questioned why his new party’s leader was not available to answer mounting allegations concerning his history, the new recruit responded: “You’ll need to ask him that question.”
Pressed on if he thought Farage should apologise for his alleged remarks towards Jewish pupils, Offord said: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.”
Defending the Leader
The peer maintained that Farage was “ethically suitable” to be prime minister and rejected claims of dog-whistle politics. During his speech, Farage had doubled down on his remarks about pupils in Glasgow who are not native English speakers by asking the rally: “Who authorised the complete transformation of Glasgow's demographics?”
While the first minister, John Swinney condemned the initial comments as “racist”, and Keir Starmer called them “toxic and divisive”, the defector argued that Farage was “highlighting a factual issue that “voters are discussing”.
Growing Confidence
The event, attended by an lively and passionate audience of predominantly older, white male backers who each paid £6 to attend, showcases Reform's increasing self-assurance before next May’s elections.
Although the SNP continues to lead in the polls, Reform UK has gained significant ground in the past year, achieving a quarter of the vote in a recent parliamentary by-election. After the collapse in support for Scottish Labour, Reform has regularly pushed it into third place in recent months, polling up to 22%.
Announcing that party membership north of the border had quadrupled in the past year to a running total of 12,000, the party chair, David Bull stated his belief it could win around twenty parliamentary seats in May, putting the party in “a powerful situation” at Holyrood.
Campaign Rhetoric
Thomas Kerr, one of Reform’s 19 Scottish councillors, prompted a roar of approval as he described Farage as “Britain’s next prime minister”. He told supporters to “prepare for a fight” as we take on the political establishment”, cautioning that “the next five months will be tough”.
Despite not yet publishing any Scotland-specific policies, representatives pledged Reform would “confront climate activists and those profiting from green policies”.
Farage himself expressed his pleasure at Reform's rise as a significant player in the political scene in Scotland over the past 12 months, admitting to the audience that he was once told he “couldn't fill a small venue”.
Local Context
Meanwhile, a few miles west in Falkirk town centre, anti-immigration and anti-racist protesters assembled for what have become regular weekly confrontations outside a local hotel where asylum seekers are now housed.
A group coordinating protests said it was galvanised by a criminal case involving an asylum seeker. Speaking previously, First Minister John Swinney cautioned that “what the far right do is to assign responsibility … to asylum seekers or migrants and I think that is the root of the poison”.
He also made a clear distinction extremist opinions and people with “valid concerns” about strain on public services or neighbourhood security.
