Reform UK candidate who called Humza Yousaf an 'Islamist' stands down
Linda Holt, who was the party’s candidate in Fife North East, said she was standing down “due to a lack of support from the party”.
The Reform UK candidate who called Humza Yousaf “Islamist” and “not British” has stood down.
Linda Holt, who was the party’s candidate in Fife North East, said she was standing down “due to a lack of support from the party”.
Ms Holt said: “Due to a lack of support from the party, I am withdrawing my candidacy for Reform with immediate effect. I thank all those who have supported me, and I wish the remaining candidates well.”
It came less than 24 hours after Reform UK announced its list candidates.
Ms Holt was placed eight on the Mid Scotland and Fife list - meaning she would almost definitely not get a seat.
As she was very unlikely to win her constituency it effectively ruled out her chances of becoming an MSP.
Ms Holt is the fourth Reform UK Holyrood candidate to stand down in less than a week.
She had branded former SNP first minister Mr Yousaf a “grandstanding Islamist moron”, “a brown FM” and “not British”.
In another post, Ms Holt said Scotland didn’t have a “British first minister” while Mr Yousaf was FM. He was born in Glasgow, lives in Dundee and is of Pakistani heritage.
Ms Holt, a taxi firm co-owner, wrote: “His background means his allegiances are naturally, even rightly, elsewhere but not with the vast majority of Scots.”
She was defended by Scottish Reform leader Malcolm Offord last weekend.
When asked if he had ever described people in the same way that his candidates had, Mr Offord told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show: “Look, I'm not getting into all the individual candidates.
“We have got 80 per cent of our candidates are not politicians. That means they're not scripted. They're real people with real opinions.
“And people in the life say things they might use intemperate language, but we're not here to judge that.”
When asked about Ms Holt’s tweet referencing Mr Yousaf’s skin colour, he said: “I think that was the timing of that was probably just immediately after the October 7 attack, and I think he was using some provocative language.
“I'm not going into the rights and wrongs of it. These, these things happen online, and the issue with today in the modern world is this is all now recorded and registered and brought back.”
When asked what term he would use to describe someone who make derogatory remarks about someone’s skin colour, Mr Offord replied: “I'm not getting... We've been through all that.
“We vetted all the candidates. We went through all the social media history where we do suspend is what we think there's been some irregularity or some, some misdemeanour, proper misdemeanour, but we're not going to suspend on previous tweets and personal opinions.”
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