Anas Sarwar has said he will challenge Nigel Farage “anytime, any place” as a row sparked by a “racist” Reform UK advert rages on.
Farage, the Reform UK leader, played the online ad at a press conference in London on Tuesday, before claiming the Scottish Labour leader had “introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics”.
That attack promoted Sarwar to brand the MP a “poisonous man who doesn’t understand Scotland”.
Now the Scottish Labour leader has said he will “challenge” Farage on his views, going on to insist: “The people of Scotland will utterly reject him.”
His comments came amid speculation Farage could visit Scotland in the run-up to next Thursday’s Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Holyrood by-election.
While Reform has not yet won an election in Scotland, the June 5 by-election is taking place as opinion polls show a surge in support for the party north of the border – with one survey even suggesting it could come second in next year’s Holyrood election ahead of Labour and the Conservatives.
Hitting out at his rival, Sarwar told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “This man has no idea where Hamilton is. I’ve been in Hamilton most days, I know other political parties have been in Hamilton a lot.
“What I suggest to Nigel Farage is he should ask his chauffeur to put Hamilton into Google Maps.
“Come up here. I’ll challenge him anytime, any place, in Hamilton, any town hall, and he can challenge me on my views, I’ll challenge him on his views, and you can see that the people of Scotland will utterly reject him, because he can’t win there and he can’t win in Scotland.
“This man wants to pretend he’s a great champion of working people across our country.”
But Sarwar, who worked as a dentist before going into elected politics, added: “While I was working in Scotland’s NHS in one of the most deprived communities in the country, he was on the Brussels gravy train.
“While I’m campaigning to defend our NHS and save our NHS, this man wants to privatise our NHS.
“He’s got no interest in Scotland. He probably couldn’t even tell you where Hamilton was on the map.”
PA MediaIn the ad – which both Labour and the SNP have demanded be removed from Facebook – Reform claims Sarwar, who was born in Glasgow to Pakistani Muslim parents, will “prioritise” Pakistani people.
However clips of the Scottish Labour leader speaking do not show him saying that.
Speaking about the on Tuesday, Farage said: “All we’ve done is to put out the exact words spoken by him without any comment.
“We’ve said nothing, just that we will represent the people of that constituency.
“The fact that they, having chosen to go down the sectarian route, choose to throw accusations back at us says to me that we are winning.”
Sarwar however insisted: “There is no doubt that Nigel Farage wants us to talk about him, and there’s no doubt he wants to play up on this divisive rhetoric in order to get attention, because the man craves the oxygen of attention rather than actually wanting to change our country, and that’s the big difference.
“I want to change Scotland, he wants to divide it. This is a man who has got no place in Scottish politics.
“The people of Scotland, by a vast majority, will utterly reject his politics.”
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