Anas Sarwar says Nigel Farage has 'crashed Reform's by-election campaign' and attacks defector
Anas Sarwar has launched an attack on a Labour councillor who defected to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party
Anas Sarwar has claimed Nigel Farage “crashed Reform’s campaign” for Thursday’s crunch Holyrood by-election during his whistle-stop tour of Scotland as he hit out at the decision of a Labour councillor to quit the party to join Reform UK.
The Scottish Labour leader spoke to The Scotsman after Mr Farage held a press conference in Aberdeen before walking around Larkhall in the by-election constituency and failing to turn up to a planned media event in Hamilton.
During his visit, the Reform UK leader called for the Barnett formula, which determines the Scottish Government’s funding from Westminster, to be scrapped while his previous comments about switching the NHS to an insurance-based healthcare model have been seized upon by opponents.
Mr Farage also used his visit to announce Labour councillor Jamie McGuire has defected to Reform, as well as Tory councillor Duncan Massey. Mr McGuire, who sits on Renfrewshire Council quit as a party staffer for Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, Alison Taylor on Friday, before confirming his defection on Monday.
Mr Sarwar has suggested that amid the personal attacks and misinformation directed at him by Mr Farage over the last few weeks that have dominated the campaign, the defection was more of a judgment on Mr McGuire than the party.
Mr Sarwar, who has not spoken to Mr McGuire about his decision, told The Scotsman: “Let me put this bluntly. If you look at the attacks that Nigel Farage and Reform UK have been making on this guy’s party leader for the last two weeks and he goes to Reform, I think that says a lot more about him than it does about the Scottish Labour party.
“If you look at the comments Farage made yesterday, if you look at the comments Farage has been making over the past two weeks, if you look at the advertising campaign Reform has got in Scotland, I don't think this is a bad reflection on the Scottish Labour party, I think it’s a serious reflection on Mr Maguire.”
READ MORE: 'No-show Nigel' as Farage dodges media and protesters during a whirlwind farce in Hamilton
Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie added: “I think I would describe him as an ambitious young man.
“He has acted in his own interest, nobody else’s.”
Turning to Mr Farage’s visit to Scotland, Mr Sarwar claimed it has given his party a boost ahead of Thursday's crunch Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.
He said: “I think Nigel Farage crashed Reform’s campaign yesterday.
“One day they pretend they can win, now he’s saying their ambition is for third. He said he’s going to fight for Scotland at the same time he’s going to take away money from Scotland’s NHS. He said he only believes in straight-talking honest politics. He’s made further disparaging comments about me that he must have dreamt one night.
READ MORE: Two more Scottish councillors defect to Reform as Nigel Farage doubles down on 'sectarian' claims
SNP MSP and Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes, told The Scotsman she was “unaware of many, if any, Scottish policies” that Mr Farage and Reform UK has.
She added: “In the Hamilton by-election, he’s spent more time focusing on Anas Sarwar than talking about what he would actually deliver for the people of Hamilton.”
Ms Forbes warned against people voting for “division that exploits people being left behind”.
A Reform UK spokesperson said: "Anas Sarwar has chosen to lie and smear because he and Scottish Labour are bricking it."
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