Reform UK hails first election in Scotland as 'dam breaking' moment
Nigel Farage said his party's success in the Whitburn and Blackburn by-election had "sent a huge message to the Scottish political establishment”.
Reform UK has hailed its first electoral victory in Scotland as a “dam breaking” moment.
Nigel Farage said his party's success in the Whitburn and Blackburn by-election had “sent a huge message to the Scottish political establishment”.
Former Conservative peer Malcolm Offord, who has defected to Reform, said his party has “momentum” ahead of next year’s Scottish Parliament election.
Polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice added that the result “confirms that they are a significant force in Scotland”.
David McLennan won the West Lothian Council by-election after winning 1,177 of the first-preference votes.
The SNP recorded the second highest number of first preference votes with 1,028.
This was followed by Scottish Labour on 627, independent Thomas Lynch on 484, the Scottish Conservatives on 129, the Scottish Lib Dems on 102, the Scottish Greens on 101 and independent Eddie Millar on 27.
Mr McLennan was officially elected at stage eight of the count, which used the single transferable vote system.
While there are currently 19 Reform UK councillors in Scotland, they have all been defections as opposed to winning on a Reform UK ticket.
Mr Offord told The Scotsman: “This is a dam breaking, basically. This is the working-class heartlands of Scotland saying that they've had enough of the SNP, they've been let down by Labour.
“This is working people saying they want to work, and they want a pathway of ambition and aspiration in their lives.
“They're fed up with the established parties not delivering that, and they want a new narrative. That's what Reform Scotland's going to offer them.”
He continued: “In Scotland and England, we've got a real momentum here.”
When asked if he thinks Reform could be the main opposition in Scotland next year, he said: “Yeah, absolutely. That would be the minimum goal.”
UK leader Mr Farage told The Scotsman: “This result is an empathic win for Reform UK in Scotland.
“Reform were not expected to win this seat, but the people of Whitburn and Blackburn have sent a huge message to the Scottish political establishment.
“We continue to look forward to the Holyrood election with continuing anticipation.”
Prof Curtice said the result “just tells us what we already knew”.
He said: “Reform have further evidence confirming the opinion polls, that they are a significant force in Scotland.”
He added: “Whether or not they can win the much bigger territory of a constituency, that's still very much to be seen on this kind of narrow victory. It's a big leap.”
But when asked if this result confirmed that Reform is set to pick up plenty of list seats next year, he said: “Correct. That it certainly indicates.
“That they’re doing easily. Well enough to manage to be able to do that.
“But not everywhere, if the Fort William by-election (where Reform got nine per cent) was any clue, the Highlands could prove to be quite difficult.”
Graham Simpson - Reform UK’s only representative in Holyrood after defecting from the Scottish Conservatives over the summer - hailed the win as a “historic result”.
He told The Scotsman: “It is a historic result for Reform.
“This is our first victory in any election in Scotland and shows the trajectory and that we can win.
“We would have also won the Stranraer by-election if it had been first-past-the-post, but this shows we can win and we are going to do very well in the Scottish Parliament election next year.
“This is a great result and shows people are with us.”
Mr McLennan said: “I want to thank the people of Whitburn and Blackburn for putting their trust in me and in Reform.
“This is a clear signal from local residents that they want their community to take a new, positive direction.
“This is a vote of faith in Reform in Scotland. We have all the momentum in Scottish politics.”
This comes after another poll suggested Reform UK would become the second biggest party in Scotland at the Holyrood election in May and form the official opposition in Scotland.
Last weekend Mr Farage spoke to hundreds of his supporters in Falkirk and revealed Mr Offord had defected to his party and is planning to run for Holyrood.
Mr Offord was previously a Conservative peer in the House of Lords, but has given this up to run for office north of the border.
The turnout at the by-election was 3,718 (22.2 per cent) and 3,675 papers were deemed valid.
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