Scotland at a crossroads ahead of ‘critical’ election, says Reform’s Offord

Scotland is at a crossroads ahead of May’s election, Reform’s Scottish leader has said.

Party members met on Thursday at a country club in Renfrewshire as Reform’s candidates were announced and the policy platform was launched.

Among Reform’s policy pledges is a promise to reduce the number of members of the Scottish Parliament by cutting the number of constituencies from 73 to 57.

The 27-page document unveiled at the party’s conference also suggests a Reform government in Scotland would “shut down the quangos and return their powers to democratically-elected ministers supported by the civil service”.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told the event there is very little to distinguish the political parties in Scotland, but his party will “challenge the Holyrood consensus”.

Speaking in his first conference speech since being appointed as Reform’s leader in Scotland, Malcolm Offord told members the country is “broken”.

He added “Scotland is now at a crossroads, and the Holyrood election is the most critical we have had in 20 years.

“Under the SNP’s failed Government, all we got in Scotland is mid-table mediocrity.

“The sad reality – and I hate to say this as a proud Scot, but I have to accept it – the sad reality is that Scotland is broken.

“But it doesn’t have to be this way.

“I know that all of you are just as ambitious as I am to put Scotland back at the top of the table, to make Scotland the most successful part of the UK.”

It will take a decade to fix Scotland, he said, as he urged Scots to “put aside all the rancour, grievance and division promoted by the SNP”.

Lord Offord reiterated his view that all public sector bodies in Scotland should be scrapped, with a decision made at a later date to bring back those which are deemed necessary.

Asked how he would manage to coax back civil servants who had previously been laid off, he said: “The question is, who’s even actually in the office anyway?

“I think we need to rationalise this in a professional way.

“Here’s the thing – we need to grow the private sector, we’re going to grow the private sector, we’ll make wages better in the private sector, and if there’s dislocations from the public sector, there’ll be good jobs to be had in the private sector instead.”

Addressing party faithful on Thursday, Mr Farage said: “The consensus that has built up in Holyrood around most major policies has, frankly, made the parties virtually indistinguishable over the course of the last few years.”

Pointing to Lord Offord, he added: “This election is going to be different, and I’ll tell you why it’s going to be different – it’s the fellow sitting over there.

“(Lord Offord) is unafraid to challenge the Holyrood consensus, unafraid to challenge the cosy club that has built up around Holyrood, around the quangos, around much of the media, around almost the entirety of the political class.

“He’s prepared to stand up on your behalf and challenge all of that.”

The political class, he claimed, has “Offord derangement syndrome”.

He added: “It’s high time somebody dropped a rock in the pool and started a proper debate about what is going wrong in Scotland and what the answers and the solutions may be.

“Offord, on your behalf, with our candidates, will do that over the course of the next seven weeks.”

On energy, the party has made a number of pro-fossil fuel pledges, including scrapping all net zero targets set by the Scottish Government and fast-tracking planning for new energy projects, including “open cast coal mining”.

With the country struggling with its prison population, the party promised to increase capacity in jails, while also giving longer sentences to “repeat offenders”.

It is not clear if Reform would build more prisons, but longer sentences would likely increase the prison population.

Opening the conference on Thursday, Reform UK chairman David Bull said the “stakes are incredibly high” at May’s election.

“I believe this is the last chance saloon for Scotland and, actually, for the United Kingdom,” he said.

“I believe passionately that Reform UK is the only choice to turn things around once and for all.

“The latest polling now shows us in Scotland at 20% – that puts us in second place in Scotland and that is utterly extraordinary.”

In polling in recent months, the party has been battling for second place with Labour.

SNP depute leader Keith Brown said Reform “couldn’t care less about Scotland”.

“We know Reform would sell off our NHS in a heartbeat, who knows what they’d do if they got their hands on our schools and other public services,” he said

“Millionaires like Nigel Farage and Malcolm Offord are the beating heart of the Westminster establishment and they have no interest in what’s best for Scotland.

“Only the SNP is on Scotland’s side and only the SNP will offer people an escape from a UK bound for a Farage future – that comes through a fresh start with independence and that’s what’s on the ballot in May.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie said the manifesto was “scribbled on the back of a cigarette packet and the sums don’t add up”, claiming that the pledges show Reform “simply is not in this race”.

“While Lord Offord claims to be on the side of working people, he has produced a manifesto for wealthy landowners,” she said.

“This out of touch Tory tribute act cares so little about Scottish politics that it doesn’t even know what voting system we use.

“Malcolm Offord is the Count Binface of Scottish politics – a joke candidate here to do nothing but cause noise.”