Entrepreneur defends Malcolm Offord over his 'six houses' comment
Marie Macklin said Reform’s Scottish leader ‘says it as it is’
A leading businesswoman and property developer has defended the leader of Reform UK in Scotland after he was accused of “bragging” about his wealth.
Malcolm Offord made headlines after revealing during a live TV election debate that he owns six houses, five cars and six boats.
He made the remarks in an exchange with Scottish Green co-leader Ross Greer, who replied that his party wants fewer people like Lord Offord in Scotland.
First Minister John Swinney later accused Lord Offord of “tone-deaf” bragging at a time when many Scots are facing acute economic hardship.
But entrepreneur Marie Macklin told BBC Scotland's Sunday Show: "Being a working class girl from Kilmarnock - Malcolm Offord, working class guy from Greenock - we say it as it is.
"He's not a career politician. He's not got some special adviser handing him a bit of paper with two lines.
"Absolutely, he should have said it. He could maybe have put it more tactically. But what kind of nation have we become when we don't have aspiration and inspiration?
"He's paid £45 million in tax. He grew businesses and he's creating enterprise for Scotland.
"I think the bigger question was Ross Greer's position - he doesn't want folk like him, which means he doesn't want folk like me."
Ms Macklin, who was previously a member of the SNP’s sustainable growth commission, criticised Scotland's income tax system, which sees anyone earning more than around £33,500 pay more than they would elsewhere in the UK.
"I think Malcolm Offord is saying, and I would say I'm aligned with Malcom Offord on this one, is 'bottom-up growth',” she said.
"I believe in bottom-up growth in our communities. I come from a coal mining community that fell by the hands of politics."
She told the Sunday Show: "I'm a proud Scot, and I think we've come to the point where the question is really quite simple.
"Are we a nation of Bravehearts, [who] want to basically protect our communities, give our communities aspiration through to opportunity, or are we a nation with the status quo as it remains, with another Pandora's box of failed promises leading to less integration in our system and also more poverty?"
Lord Offord, a former financier who defected from the Conservatives last year, came under fire after revealing the extent of his wealth during an STV debate on Tuesday evening.
The life peer, who grew up in Greenock, said: “I went to London 40 years ago with £2,000 in debt and full of ambition – I worked hard, and I was successful.
“Today, I own six houses, five cars and six boats. In a 40-year business career, I’ve employed hundreds of thousands of people and paid £45 million in tax.”
He added that his intention was not to “boast”, but to ask if the Greens would want more or less people like him in Scotland.
“Fewer people like you,” Mr Greer replied. “I think it’s worth, at this point in the debate, pointing out that there are three times as many holiday homes and empty properties in this country as there are homeless children.
“You don’t need six homes, you don’t even need two homes, everybody just needs a home to live in.
“Surely, if we’re to tackle the housing crisis, the super rich, elite individuals like you should be giving up some of those homes so that people who desperately need a roof over their head actually had somewhere to live.”
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