'Grow up': Reform UK defends its Holyrood 2026 candidates for past comments
Several of Reform UK’s Holyrood candidates have been criticised for their past social media comments.
Reform UK says people need to “grow up” and “not take offence to everything” after several of their Holyrood candidates were condemned for their past comments.
On Thursday Nigel Farage’s party unveiled their candidates for the upcoming Scottish Parliament election.
Malcolm Offord, the party’s Scottish leader, said: “We have brought in a whole range of candidates - 80 per cent are not politicians, they are real people who have said real things in the past.”
He added: “At the end of the day if you want a bunch of people who have never said anything offensive in their lives, you will never find someone.”
One of the candidates in question is Linda Holt, who is standing in Fife North East. She previously called former first minister Humza Yousaf a “grandstanding Islamist moron” and “not British”, and claimed the Scottish Government was “becoming a Hamas PR support act” while he was in charge.
Mr Offord was asked about these comments during an interview on BBC Radio Scotland Breakfast.
In response, he said: “This was before she was a candidate or a member of the party.
“In the past we've all made comments that are temperate, but everything is written down now.
“We need to be realistic that real people say real things.
“Now she is a candidate she will be held to a higher standard.”
Another candidate is Senga Beresford, who is standing in Galloway and West Dumfries. She posted messages online calling for the deportation of British Muslims and endorsing far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
When asked about Ms Beresford, Mr Offord said: “Again, this was done in a former life before she was a member of Reform UK.
“We’ve all said things in the past that may be temperate but we need to grow up on this and not take offence to everything.”
When asked specifically about endorsing social media posts made by Tommy Robinson, Mr Offord said everyone has the right to put themselves forward for election as long as they have not done anything criminal.
“We are not stopping people standing for Reform because they might have said something fruity in the past,” he said.
“My understanding is she liked a tweet about grooming gangs, and to be honest I think we need to get this into perspective.”
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has since called for Ms Beresford to be dropped as a candidate.
Another candidate who has come under fire is Rachael Wright who is standing in Stirling. She has been linked to a wave of false rumours that the former Kilgraston School in Perthshire would be “turned into migrant accommodation”.
Mr Offord said: “We are realistic - we have interesting people, real people.
“Professional politicians never put a foot wrong because they never say anything interesting or that matters.
“Everyone has said things in the past they regret, it doesn’t mean they are a bad person.”
Mr Offord was also forced to defend comments made at the conference by Reform MP Sarah Pochin. During her speech her autocue failed, and she told the audience she wanted to go on stage wearing a “tartan burqa”.
Mr Offord said her comments were "completely harmless" and people need to “stop taking it all quite so seriously”.
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