Hamilton by-election campaign heats up as Farage visits Scotland

Scotland's main political parties have rounded on Nigel Farage as the Reform UK leader came north to campaign in a crucial by-election.

Farage visited Scotland for the first time in the campaign where he said his party is a "fresh positive voice" between the Labour and SNP "seesaw" in Scotland.

Scottish Labour, the SNP and the Scottish Conservatives hit out at Farage and the Reform campaign, urging voters not to back the party in Thursday's vote in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.

A by-election is being held in the constituency following the death of the SNP MSP Christina McKelvie.

Farage attended a press conference in Aberdeen, before visiting Hamilton and Larkhall.

He said Reform had made "remarkable strides" in Scotland over the last year and was "beginning to eclipse Labour".

He announced two more councillors have defected to join Reform, and said this was because the party was "attracting some very, very good fresh talent".

Councillor Duncan Massey, who had previously been a Conservative member of Aberdeen City Council, was unveiled as a latest defector alongside Jamie McGuire, who had sat for Labour on Renfrewshire Council.

Farage also refused to apologise for comments about the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, which some of his political opponents had described as racist.

Farage said his party "don't talk about race at all" and "think everyone should be treated equally".

He pointed to speech from Sarwar in 2022 at an event celebrating the 75th anniversary of Pakistan's independence, which featured in a recent Reform advert.

In its video, Reform added text claiming that Sarwar wanted to "prioritise the Pakistani community" - despite the Glasgow MSP not saying that in any of the clips.

Both Labour and First Minister John Swinney have described the online video as "blatantly racist".

Farage claimed Sarwar's speech was "sectarian in its very nature" and said it suggested that the South Asian community wanted to "take over the country and take over the world".

Later, Farage did not attend a planned media event in Hamilton, after a number of demonstrators showed up at the Reform UK office in the town.

Farage's visit became a talking point for the other parties out on the campaign trail.

Sarwar urged voters to "reject the poison of Reform and tell the SNP they have failed Scotland and start that pathway to a change of government here in Scotland".

He added: "The Reform circus is going to come into town with Nigel Farage as the chief clown and then the Reform circus is going to move away.

"But it's not going to improve people's lives here in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.

"This is a man who doesn't care about Scotland, who doesn't understand Scotland, but wants to divide us - so we're going to utterly reject him and his politics."

He said that people in Scotland felt like the economy, public services and the NHS did not work for them, adding: "We need a government that actually serves and improves the lives of people here in Scotland."

Sarwar joined candidate Davy Russell as they unveiled a campaign van in Larkhall.

First Minister John Swinney joined candidate Katy Loudon at a soft play area in Hamilton, where he told BBC Scotland News Farage "represents the opposite of almost everything I believe to be important in society today".

He added: "Nigel Farage gave us Brexit which has made us all poorer, he now wants to privatise the NHS and he wants to undermine the Scottish Parliament.

"So at this by-election on Thursday, people in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse have got to realise that if they want to stop Farage, they've got to vote for the SNP who are the only alternative to Farage that can win."

Scottish Conservative MSP Douglas Lumsden called Aberdeen councillor Massey's defection "really disappointing".

However, he admitted it would be "difficult" for the Conservatives to win in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, adding: "But we're still out trying to talk to as many voters as possible to get as many votes as possible and get that positive message across."

The Scottish Conservative leader, Russell Findlay, said Reform UK's plans to rethink the Barnett formula would be like taking a "wrecking ball to Scotland's public services".

The Scottish Green party hit out at Reform's plan to grant new oil and gas licenses in the North Sea, support fracking, and open new coal mines if in power.

The party's Patrick Harvie accused Reform of "courting donations" from oil and gas companies.

"It's no surprise that Farage and his cronies are desperate to do everything they can to shore up the astronomical profits of global corporate interests by promising a carte blanche to fossil fuel giants in the North Sea and across Scotland," he said.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats accused Farage of "Trumpian" attempts to control the media.

The comments came after he accused journalists from The Herald of working with demonstrators to derail a press conference in Aberdeen, a claim the newspapers denies.

Liberal Democrat Scottish Affairs spokesperson, Christine Jardine MP, said: "This attack on the media represents a descent into properly Trumpian behaviour from the Reform leader.

"Before you know it, he'll be banging on about building a wall and chanting "lock her up" to cover for his complete lack of actual solutions," she said.

"There are a lot of people are frustrated that they have been let down by the SNP, Conservatives and Labour but it's the Liberal Democrats who are offering real change, not Reform."

There are a total of 10 candidates contesting this by-election on Thursday 5 June.

They are:

• Collette Bradley - Scottish Socialist Party
• Andy Brady - Scottish Family Party
• Ross Lambie - Reform UK
• Katy Loudon - SNP
• Janice Mackay - UK Independence Party
• Ann McGuinness - Scottish Green Party
• Aisha Mir - Scottish Liberal Democrats
• Richard Nelson - Scottish Conservative
• Davy Russell - Scottish Labour
• Marc Wilkinson - Independent