Nigel Farage spoke to the largest Reform UK rally so far in Scotland, but declined to speak with local journalists following the event. Instead, recently switched peer Malcolm Offord was left to responding to queries on allegations of racism 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 near Falkirk. The businessman, who worked as a Scotland Office minister in the previous administration and was until recently treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, stated his plan to give up his peerage in order to stand for the party in the upcoming Scottish parliament vote.
Farage said he was “delighted” to welcome Offord to the party. He called the peer’s defection as “a brave and historic act”.
Avoiding Media Scrutiny
The Reform leader addressed the rally following a difficult period which saw him launch a tirade against the BBC after they quizzed him regarding a report into alleged racist and antisemitic behaviour from his teenage years. But, the leader avoided a planned media briefing post-rally.
Questioned why his new party’s leader did not make himself available to address growing claims concerning his history, Offord said: “That is a question for him to answer.”
Challenged about whether he believed an apology was necessary for his alleged remarks about Jewish students, Offord said: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.”
Defending the Leader
Offord insisted that Farage was “ethically suitable” to be prime minister and denied he was employing coded political messaging. During his speech, the leader had reiterated on his remarks about pupils in Glasgow who speak English as a second language by posing the question to the crowd: “Who voted for the wholesale change of the population of Glasgow?”
While Scotland's First Minister criticised the initial comments as “racist”, and Keir Starmer called them “toxic and divisive”, the defector argued that Farage was “drawing attention to a real concern” that “voters are discussing”.
A Party on the Rise
The event, attended by an lively and passionate audience of predominantly older, white male backers who each paid £6 to attend, highlights Reform's increasing self-assurance ahead of the Scottish vote.
While the Scottish National Party remains ahead, the party has gained significant ground in the past year, securing 26% of the vote in a recent parliamentary by-election. Following Scottish Labour's decline, Reform has regularly pushed it into third place in recent months, with support reaching over a fifth.
Announcing that party membership north of the border had increased fourfold over the last twelve months to 12,000 members, a senior party official said he believed it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, which would place Reform in “a powerful situation” in the Scottish Parliament.
Fighting Talk
Thomas Kerr, a local representative for the party, elicited loud cheers as he referred to the leader as “the future PM of the UK”. He instructed the crowd to “prepare for a fight” as we “challenge the ruling class”, cautioning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”.
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 the party’s emergence as a force in the political scene in Scotland in the last year, admitting to the audience that in previous years he had been warned he “wouldn’t get 20 people in a room”.
Protests Nearby
Meanwhile, not far away in the heart of Falkirk, 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 serious local crime. Speaking previously, Scotland's leader cautioned that “what the far right do is to assign responsibility … to new arrivals and I think that is the root of the poison”.
He also made a clear distinction between those who hold far-right views and people with “legitimate points” about strain on public services or neighbourhood security.
