🔗 Share this article Nigel Farage Addresses Party's Biggest Gathering in Scotland Amid Controversy and High-Profile Switch The Reform UK figurehead addressed the biggest Reform UK public meeting so far in Scotland, however declined to speak with local journalists following the event. Instead, recently switched member of the House of Lords the former Conservative donor was left to responding to queries on claims of discriminatory behaviour and anti-Jewish sentiment linked to the party leader. A High-Profile Defection Farage introduced the ex-Tory lord and millionaire donor at a sold-out rally of roughly seven hundred supporters in a hotel venue in central Scotland. Offord, who served as a Scotland Office minister in the previous administration and was until recently treasurer of the Scottish Conservatives, announced his intention to give up his peerage in order to stand for the party in next May’s Holyrood elections. Farage said he was “extremely pleased” to welcome the new member. He described the switch as “a brave and historic act”. Avoiding Media Scrutiny Farage spoke to the crowd following a difficult period which saw him launch a fierce criticism of the broadcaster after they quizzed him about an investigation into alleged racist and antisemitic behaviour from his teenage years. However, the leader avoided the expected press huddle post-rally. When asked why Farage was not available to answer mounting allegations about his past behaviour, the new recruit responded: “That is a question for him to answer.” Pressed on whether he believed an apology was necessary for his alleged remarks about Jewish students, he stated: “That is a matter for him to deliberate on with his team.” Defending the Leader The peer maintained that the leader is “morally fit” to be prime minister and denied he was employing coded political messaging. During his speech, Farage had doubled down on previous comments about pupils in Glasgow who are not native English speakers by posing the question to the crowd: “Who voted for the wholesale change of the population of Glasgow?” Although Scotland's First Minister condemned the initial comments as “discriminatory”, and Keir Starmer called them “harmful and polarising”, the defector argued that Farage was “highlighting a factual issue that “voters are discussing”. A Party on the Rise The event, filled with an lively and passionate audience of largely male, white and middle-aged supporters who bought tickets for the event, showcases Reform's increasing self-assurance before next May’s elections. Although the SNP continues to lead in the polls, Reform UK has made substantial progress recently, securing 26% of the vote in its first Holyrood byelection test. After the collapse in support for Scottish Labour, the party has often relegated it to third lately, with support reaching over a fifth. Announcing that Reform UK membership in Scotland had quadrupled over the last twelve months to a running total of 12,000, the party chair, David Bull stated his belief it could gain up to 20 MSPs in May, putting the party in “a powerful situation” in the Scottish Parliament. Fighting Talk A Reform councillor, 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 “man the barricades as we “challenge the ruling class”, cautioning that “the coming campaign will be difficult”. Although the party has yet to produce a distinct policy platform for Scotland, representatives pledged Reform would “confront climate activists and those profiting from green policies”. The leader personally 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, a few miles west in the heart of Falkirk, demonstrators with opposing views were gathering for a now-regular weekly standoff outside a local hotel where asylum seekers are now housed. The organisers of the demonstrations said it was galvanised by a criminal case involving an asylum seeker. Speaking previously, First Minister John Swinney cautioned that “what the far right do is to assign responsibility … to new arrivals and I think that is the source of a harmful narrative”. However, he differentiated between those who hold far-right views and people with “legitimate points” about pressure on local services or community safety.