Offord stands by Reform candidates, saying one will be ‘first-class MSP’

Reform UK’s Scottish leader has stood by his Holyrood candidates, saying one will be a “first-class MSP”, after controversial past social media posts emerged.

Malcolm Offord also said his default position was to remove all of Scotland’s quangos as he was pressed on his party’s tax and spending plans.

Reform UK announced its Scottish Parliament manifesto on Thursday, along with its constituency candidates.

Within hours, previous social media posts from some of the candidates emerged which drew criticism.

Posts from Senga Beresform, Reform’s candidate for Galloway and West Dumfries, called for the deportation of British Muslims and endorsed far-right activist Tommy Robinson.

Linda Holt, the candidate for Fife North East, described former first minister Humza Yousaf as a “grandstanding Islamist moron” and said he was “not British”.

During an appearance on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Lord Offord said everyone had made “intemperate” remarks and suggested people should “take less offence”.

Discussing Ms Holt’s comments, he said: “80% of our candidates are not politicians.

“That means they’re not scripted, they’re real people with real opinions.”

He said voters would judge the candidates on May 7 when Scots go to the polls.

Reform UK has vetted all of its candidates, he said, claiming Ms Holt would be a “very effective MSP” if she was elected.

On Ms Beresford’s comments, he said they came before she was a member of Reform UK.

He said: “She would say that was intemperate language…

“But you know what, we move on. She’s a good person, she’ll be a first-class MSP.”

Lord Offord was also asked about the assessment from the IFS think tank which concluded his party’s tax cut pledges were “not credible”.

He suggested the think tank is not independent as it received funding from the Government.

He said: “We look across the water at Ireland, what have they done?

“They’ve cut their taxes and grown their economy. It’s pretty straightforward.”

On his party’s plans to cut spending by removing quangos, he said: “My default position would be we should remove them all, because there’s a massive overlap.

“There’s 132 quangos overlapping with the Scottish civil service, they should be merged together.”

He went on to say he would not necessarily cut the underlying funding for the bodies.

Commenting on his remarks, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie said: “Lord Offord’s car-crash interview laid bare a man who is completely out of his depth and simply doesn’t understand Scotland or the problems it faces.

“Worse still, he has shown he is too weak to stand up to the extremists in his own ranks.

“He is a leader without followers, fronting a party without answers, and Scotland will see straight through it.”

SNP depute leader Keith Brown MSP said: “Nigel Farage’s Reform Party wants to privatise Scotland’s NHS, slash Scotland’s budget and take an axe to the vital public services that Scottish families rely on.

“It’s a Westminster millionaire elites’ party that brags about imposing Brexit against Scotland’s will, which has increased the cost of living, wiped billions of pounds from Scottish public finances, harmed our NHS and economy, and made the UK poorer.”