Swinney: Scotland must be alive to the threat of Farage after English elections
Scotland’s First Minister attacked Labour and the Tories for ‘cosying up’ to Reform, which performed strongly in local elections south of the border.
Scotland must be “alive” to the “threat” of Nigel Farage, the First Minister has said, after Reform UK’s strong performance in England’s local elections.
John Swinney accused Labour and the Conservatives of making a “fundamental mistake” by “cosying up” to the right-wing party.
Reform UK won its first mayor during the local elections south of the border, and came second to Labour in another two, while it also overturned a large Labour majority at a Westminster by-election.
Results are still pouring in from England’s council elections but Mr Farage’s party already returned more than 100 councillors by Friday afternoon.
Speaking to the PA news agency in Glasgow during a climate conference, Mr Swinney accused the former Ukip leader of giving voters “false hope”.
“The results coming in from England demonstrate that Farage is a real political threat,” he said, “and the Labour and Conservative parties have made fundamental mistakes in dealing with Farage because they have cosied up to them, rather than confronting them.
“The Scottish National Party has every intention of confronting the politics of Farage because they are politics that are populist, they are deceptive, they give people false hope, and they blame others, and the SNP will confront those politics.”
Asked if Reform UK’s victories could be replicated at next year’s Holyrood elections, the SNP leader said: “We’ve got to be alive to the political threat from Farage and the answer to Farage is to confront him – it’s not to cosy up to him.
“The Labour Party and the Conservatives have cosied up to Farage, and look where it’s got them in England.
“Well, I have absolutely no intention of cosying up to Farage.
“I’ll give the political leadership to the SNP and to Scotland that will confront the politics of Farage, because his politics are divisive, they provide people with false hopes, and they are fundamentally damaging to our society and our democratic values, and they have to be confronted.”
Mr Swinney was speaking after appearing at The Better Society Academy, a climate conference at The Social Hub in Glasgow on Friday.
Recent polling has suggested Reform UK – which does not currently have a Scottish leader – could return more than 10 MSPs to the Scottish Parliament next year.
A Survation poll on Friday put support for Reform UK on 14% for the constituency vote at Holyrood and 12% for the regional list. The Tories stood at 13% and 16% respectively.
The survey, carried out on behalf of Diffley Partnership, found 36% of people are planning to vote for Mr Swinney’s party on the constituency section of the ballot, with 28% saying they will support the SNP on the regional list section of the vote.
Support for Anas Sarwar’s Scottish Labour was at 22% on both the constituency and the regional list ballot, according to the poll.
Last week, Mr Swinney chaired a summit to battle the rise of the far-right, which he said included Reform UK.
In response, Reform UK – which was not invited – described the SNP leader as a “democracy denier” and accused him of being scared of the party’s popularity.
A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: “John Swinney loves nothing more than talking up Reform at every opportunity.
“The reason is because, as polling experts have said, every vote for Reform increases the chances of him being returned as First Minister and the SNP having a pro-independence majority in the Scottish Parliament next year.
“Only the Scottish Conservatives are standing up for the common-sense mainstream of Scots, and against the fringe obsessions of the SNP and the other left-wing parties at Holyrood.”
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “The driving force behind political disenfranchisement and polarisation in Scotland is the failure of the SNP and Tory governments.
“Labour is working to repair the damage the Tories inflicted on our country, but the SNP is still refusing to take responsibility for its mistakes.
“Reform is capitalising on the despair Scots feel over our public services and our economy and as long as the SNP remains in denial it will fail to turn the tide.
“Only Scottish Labour is offering Scotland a new direction and an alternative to the incompetence of the SNP and the divisive politics of Reform.”
Reform UK have been approached for comment.
