Reform UK are bad enough, but the real extremists are the bigoted and intolerant Greens – Murdo Fraser
The SNP regard Reform as beyond the pale, but are still cosying up to the Scottish Greens despite their backing for the antisemitic claim that ‘Zionism is racism’
Last week Holyrood was treated to the spectacle of Reform’s deputy leader, Thomas Kerr MSP, calling for a ban on the burka in Scotland. It was a fascinating illustration of Kerr’s transformation, in a short period of time, from a liberal One-Nation Conservative to a right-wing populist in the style of Nigel Farage.
A liberal Conservative view would be that it is none of the government’s business to dictate to private citizens what clothing they should wear in public, barring clear public order issues. Arguing for a ban on wearing balaclavas, which are clearly designed only to thwart the police’s ability to identify offenders, seems to me perfectly legitimate, but should not be conflated with women’s rights to wear religious dress if that suits them.
Kerr’s call was met with unanimous opposition across all other parties at Holyrood, with my Conservative colleague Stephen Kerr expressing concern about the language being used by Reform to talk about people of colour and those who belong to minority religions. Other MSPs went further, making direct accusations of racism.
The SNP’s double standards
The SNP have already made clear that they regard Reform as beyond the pale, and will not be making any deals with them during this parliament. Indeed, the SNP’s Westminster leader, Dave Doogan MP, was recently slapped down by John Swinney for suggesting that the SNP would happily discuss with a future Reform Prime Minister the terms on which another independence referendum might be granted.
It does seem to me, however, that there are double standards at play here. However unpalatable we might find some of what Reform has to say, it shrinks into insignificance compared to recent utterances from the Scottish Greens.
A vote at the recent England and Wales Green party conference to declare that “Zionism is racism” has generated a furious backlash, even amongst senior figures in the party such as Caroline Lucas. Four out of the five Green MPs voted against the motion, and there already have been a number of resignations.
The Green leader, Zack Polanski, was not even present for the debate to show any leadership, instead opting to take part in his failed by-election campaign. Already his personal ratings have seen a sharp drop as a result of both the vote and his own cowardice in absenting himself from it.
’Grotesque and antisemitic’ social media post
There was an opportunity for the Greens in Scotland to distance themselves from their sister party south of the Border. However, their co-leader Ross Greer went on Radio Scotland last week to repeat that “Zionism is racism”, making it clear that the Scottish Greens are as happy to go down the route of antisemitism as their counterparts in the south.
Perhaps we should not be surprised by this synergy of interests, given that it was recently revealed that the Scottish party had been in receipt of £150,000 loan from the Greens in England and Wales in advance of May’s Holyrood election.
It is not as if the endorsement of the “Zionism is racism” message is out of character for the Greens. The Highlands and Islands Green MSP, Ariane Burgess, liked a social media post containing an Israeli flag superimposed on a blood-covered swastika.
She subsequently said that this interaction had been made in error and acknowledged the post was inappropriate and distasteful, but the Jewish Council of Scotland reacted angrily, describing the image as “grotesque and antisemitic”.
A very different party
I know of many decent people who vote Green because they care about the environment, and they naïvely believe that tackling climate change is the main focus for elected Green politicians. But, as the former Scottish Green leader Robin Harper has pointed out, the party today is a very different beast from the organisation he used to lead.
Harper was widely respected across the political spectrum, even by those who disagreed with him, as someone truly committed to environmental causes. And yet now he says that the passion for saving the planet has gone, and has been replaced with single-issue populism and matters such as Palestine and the Jews and trans rights.
His damning assessment is that “the party I loved and led has truly lost its way – in the name of naked populism”.
Internally, as Harper observes, the leadership of the Scottish Greens closes down debate and ostracises those who might take a contrary view to them. Harper says that his own voice in the party was stifled when he suggested there should be further proper debate about trans legislation.
A worse fate befell Andy Wightman, one of the most effective voices for Green causes that the party has ever had, who was driven out because he had the temerity to actually listen to those on the other side of the trans debate. A party which does not tolerate any level of internal discussion about these matters does not deserve to be taken seriously on anything.
Swinney must sever ties with Greens
It was not so long ago that the Greens were, shamefully, brought into the Scottish government by the then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, with John Swinney at her side, allowing Green MSPs to occupy ministerial roles.
We are still living with the legacy of the disastrous appointment of Patrick Harvie to take decisions on housing policy, the negative impacts of which continue to be felt with the estimated loss of over £3 billion in investment in the build-to-rent sector in Scotland.
Even now, the Green co-leader Gillian Mackay is set to appear at this week's SNP conference. The nationalists cannot, with credibility, treat Reform as the pariahs of Scottish politics, whilst at the same time cosying up to the bigoted and antisemitic Greens.
John Swinney needs to stand with Scotland's Jewish community and cut links with a party that has lost all interest in fighting for the planet and is instead simply pursuing hard-left populism.
Murdo Fraser is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Mid-Scotland and Fife
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