Anas Sarwar brands Nigel Farage a “tedious, pathetic little man" as racism row intensifies

The stand-off ahead of the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election intensified after the Scottish Labour leader said he would challenge Mr Farage “anytime, any place” to debate their views, sparked amid accusations Reform has resorted to “racist” advertisements as part of the party’s campaign.

Mr Sarwar told The Scotsman that despite the SNP and Labour being bitter political rivals, both parties uniting against Reform’s “prejudice and hate” was “grown-up, decent, sensible politics”.

Mr Farage, the Reform UK leader, played the online ad at a press conference in London on Tuesday, before claiming the Scottish Labour leader had “introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics”.

The row had ramped up after Mr Farage posted an edited clip of a speech Mr Sarwar made in Holyrood in 2020 about concerns of ingrained racism and a lack of diversity in key public sector roles in Scotland - alongside clips of the Reform leader himself.

The speech has been shared previously by far right groups and from the same Holyrood debate, Elon Musk used a similar speech by Humza Yousaf to spread claims the former first minister was racist.

Above the video, Mr Farage claims that “Anas Sarwar is the one obsessed about race”.

Farage a ‘pathetic little man’

The Scottish Labour leader told The Scotsman that Mr Farage was “a tedious, pathetic little man” as he refuted claims by the Reform leader his party was speaking for working class people let down by Sir Keir Starmer’s government.

Speaking in Hamilton ahead of the crunch by-election next week, Mr Sarwar said that Scots will see through Mr Farage’s claims of being a working class hero as he launched a scathing attack on the Reform leader.

READ MORE: Nigel Farage's previous visits to Scotland - arrests, protests and fleeing from Royal Mile pub

Mr Sarwar said: “When did we ever start believing that Nigel Farage is pretending to be the great champion of working people? This is the guy who doesn’t understand Scotland, doesn’t care about Scotland, couldn’t pin Hamilton anywhere on a map, will be utterly rejected by Scots.

“This is the guy who was a former spiv and spinner in the financial markets rather than actually being a real champion. While I was working in Scotland’s NHS in one of the most deprived communities, he was on what he would call the gravy train in Brussels.

“This is the guy who used to be the president of the Margaret Thatcher fan-club now coming and telling us he is the champion of working class communities in Scotland.

“The guy’s a clown, he’s a joke - he’s a tedious, pathetic little man who is trying to get attention by playing on people’s fear and trying to divide the country. I want to unite it. Scotland will utterly reject him.”

Sarwar throws down debate gauntlet

Now, the Scottish Labour leader has said he will “challenge” Mr Farage on his views, going on to insist: “The people of Scotland will utterly reject him.”

His comments came amid speculation Mr Farage could visit Scotland in the run-up to next Thursday’s Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Holyrood by-election.

While Reform has not yet won an election in Scotland, the June 5 by-election is taking place as opinion polls show a surge in support for the party north of the Border. One survey even suggested Reform could come second in next year’s Holyrood election ahead of Labour and the Conservatives.

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Hitting out at his rival, Mr Sarwar told the BBC: “This man has no idea where Hamilton is. I’ve been in Hamilton most days, I know other political parties have been in Hamilton a lot.

“What I suggest to Nigel Farage is he should ask his chauffeur to put Hamilton into Google Maps.

“Come up here. I’ll challenge him anytime, any place, in Hamilton, any town hall, and he can challenge me on my views, I’ll challenge him on his views, and you can see that the people of Scotland will utterly reject him, because he can’t win there and he can’t win in Scotland.

“This man wants to pretend he’s a great champion of working people across our country.”

In the advert, which both Labour and the SNP have demanded be removed from Facebook, Reform claims Mr Sarwar, who was born in Glasgow to Pakistani Muslim parents, will “prioritise” Pakistani people. However, clips of the Scottish Labour leader speaking do not show him saying that.

Speaking about the advert on Tuesday, Mr Farage said: “All we’ve done is to put out the exact words spoken by him without any comment. We’ve said nothing, just that we will represent the people of that constituency.

“The fact that they, having chosen to go down the sectarian route, choose to throw accusations back at us says to me that we are winning.”

Mr Sarwar, however, insisted: “There is no doubt that Nigel Farage wants us to talk about him, and there’s no doubt he wants to play up on this divisive rhetoric in order to get attention, because the man craves the oxygen of attention rather than actually wanting to change our country, and that’s the big difference.

“I want to change Scotland, he wants to divide it. This is a man who has got no place in Scottish politics.

“The people of Scotland, by a vast majority, will utterly reject his politics.”

Reform ‘cannot win’ by-election

Pressed again over whether Labour could actually secure victory in the by-election, Mr Sarwar told journalists he rejected the “false narrative”.

He added: “Reform can’t win here. All they can do is make the noise here. Nigel Farage wants to try and make this a circus, but this is a community that wants significant representation, it wants a local champion. Davy Russell can be that local champion and only he can beat the SNP.”

But the Labour campaign has faced criticism amid allegations Mr Russell has been hidden by party bosses including a refusal to take part in an STV debate alongside candidates from the SNP and Reform.

Mr Sarwar told journalists in Hamilton that MR Russell has “done media before” and “will be doing media in the future”.

Asked about the situation, Mr Russell told journalists his profile “is very high”.

He added: “If you actually go and chap the doors and speak to people, they don’t see the SNP, they don’t see Reform. People recognise me.

“I’m a well-known figure in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. I’m not well-known on the TV but I definetely am on the ground.”

Mr Russell stressed that “there hasn’t been an issue” with him talking to journalists.