Nigel Farage has accused the Scottish political establishment of being against his party, but he said it means Reform “must be in the right place”.
It comes as First Minister John Swinney opened his “anti-far right” summit in Glasgow – to which Reform wasn’t invited.
“The entire Scottish political establishment – political parties, the churches, trade unions, and civil society – all got together to say, ‘We fear the far right, and guess who’s not invited? Reform,'” Farage told STV News.
“‘They’re the bad guys’ is what they’re really trying to say.
“All I can say is given the complete failures of the Scottish Government at almost every level over the last few years, is that if everyone is against us, we must be in the right place.”
Farage’s comments come as Reform UK supporters gathered outside Swinney’s summit to protest what his party’s only Glasgow councillor Thomas Kerr called “an affront to democracy”.
“It is an anti-democratic summit held by the First Minister of Scotland, and I think it’s shameful,” Kerr said.
A small group of Reform demonstrators stood behind Kerr, holding signs that read “Democracy Denier, John Swinney won’t listen to you”.
STV NewsA separate group of four people stood at the entrance to The Merchants House venue holding signs that said “mass deportation now” and “asylum frauds out”.
Standing across the street from the meeting, Kerr denied that his party is far right and accused Swinney of “playing politics”.
“What’s happening in the building across the road is an affront to democracy. It is an anti-democratic summit held by the first minister of Scotland and I think it’s shameful,” the Reform councillor told STV News.
However, he said Swinney has done the party a “massive favour”.
“He thinks he’s playing politics with us because he’s trying to trip up the other parties, but I think what he’s done has given us a massive platform to eat in to votes of both SNP, Labour, Tories,” Kerr said.
STV News“Our message is very clear, if you want to beat reform, beat us at the ballot box. That’s what the election is for next year.”
Speaking at the start of the summit, Swinney did not mention Reform UK.
“This gathering, ultimately, is about the quality of our democracy,” he said.
“It’s not about symptoms, for example, how people choose to vote, but it’s very much about identifying and seeking to understand deeper causes. What, at a deeper level, is driving disenchantment and polarisation?
Scottish Lib-Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said he was attending “in good faith”, but he was also critical of both Swinney’s government and his choice to bar Reform from attending.
“I was told this is a meeting about tackling hate and disrespect in politics and engaging with the public,” he said.
“I think if we’re honest, a lot of reasons people are disengaged is the failures of this government.”
Cole-Hamilton also didn’t believe the summit should be excluding “any democratic party”.
He told STV News that he “fundamentally disagrees” with Reform UK’s views, but he said the party still has the right to say them.
“I am, as a liberal, against the idea of no-platforming people. I think you need to defeat arguments you disagree with on open ground. That’s what I’ll be saying at this meeting,” he said.
STV NewsThis view was opposed by Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie.
“I think very clearly there’s a need to establish some unity from all those who want to oppose the far right in all its forms. That includes Nigel Farage and those that support him, but it’s certainly not limited to that,” Harvie said.
He said the summit needs to be about addressing the “very legitimate concerns that some danger toxic forces are tapping into”.
“Those concerns are legitimate, but the far right answers are not,” Harvie said.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was in attendance on Wednesday morning as well, but he levelled harsh criticism at Swinney’s government before he walked through the doors.
“I think it suits Swinney to talk up Reform rather than taking on the issues this government is facing,” Sarwar said.
“The best way of stopping people from going toward divisive politics and from being pushed towards political parties like Reform and towards Nigel Farage is actually having a Scottish Government that delivers for people. This SNP government is failing to do that.”
He added: “That’s why I’ll go in and listen to good ideas and engage in good faith, but ultimately I want to change the government next year and remove the SNP from office and deliver a government that works for people.”
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