Scottish Tory leader 'doesn't understand appeal' of Nigel Farage

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said he does not understand the appeal of Nigel Farage.

Russell Findlay said it was “absolutely questionable” whether Reform UK was “even a party of the Union”.

Findlay ruled out any deals with the right-wing party as he accused Farage of helping to keep the SNP in power.

His comments came after Reform UK’s strong performance in this week’s local elections in England.

The party returned hundreds of councillors, an MP at a by-election and its first mayor.

Asked on BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show if he understood the appeal of Farage, Findlay said: “Do I understand the appeal? No, I don’t.

“What I understand is why people, voters in Scotland and across the United Kingdom, feel disillusioned, they feel disconnected and left behind with politics.

“I’m not a career politician – I’m new at this. I’ve been doing this job for seven months.

“I completely understand why people feel that way, but Reform are not the answer in Scotland.

Findlay described the outcome of Thursday’s elections in England as a “terrible result” for his party.

“But let’s look at this in context that not a single vote was cast in Scotland,” he said.

“I’m the leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, and it’s my job to bring forward common sense, Conservative policies that people actually care about, and to try and address the issues that matter in people’s lives. That’s my focus.”

He added: “What we’ve seen from Reform, from Nigel Farage’s own mouth, is he would be quite comfortable putting an SNP first minister into Bute House.

“Many of their candidates are nationalists. It’s absolutely questionable whether they’re even a party of the Union.”

Farage said in an interview last month that he was not “worried about the SNP”, which he said would “have a resurgence”, but ruled out any deal with Labour at Holyrood.

Findlay, who took over from Douglas Ross as Scottish Tory leader last year, said he was “not interested in doing any form of deal with Reform or any other party that would support the SNP or support splitting up the UK.”

He said UK Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is “absolutely the right person for the job” to rebuild after inheriting “this lack of trust, this disconnect” with voters.

He added: “Last year, just a short time ago, we lost a general election in a very, very bad way – it was a very, very poor result for us.

“Kemi and I both understand that and that’s why we are both working hard to rebuild trust, to understand what people want us to focus on and getting on with delivering.”

Reform UK has been approached for comment.