Reform UK refuses to rule out using 'racist' Anas Sarwar advert at Holyrood election
Malcolm Offord also opened the door to voting for Anas Sarwar as First Minister.
Reform UK has refused to rule out using a “racist” advert about Anas Sarwar at next month’s Holyrood election.
The party used an advert during last summer’s Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election which accused the Scottish Labour leader of promising to “prioritise the Pakistani community” in Scotland.
The ad was branded “racist” by Mr Sarwar and First Minister John Swinney.
At a press conference at Tolcross Swimming Pool in Glasgow on Wednesday, MSP candidate Thomas Kerr suggested the advert could be used again.
Mr Kerr said: “This is a man who is hoping to be first minister at Holyrood for all of Scotland and I think it’s right that he is held accountable for statements he has made.
“The sort of campaign that Reform will run is one to make sure that this man [Mr Offord] sitting next to me is in Bute House.
“We’re not interested in second place, we’re not interested in propping up Anas Sarwar or John Swinney, we want to make sure that this guy sitting next to me wins and is in Bute House to get the real fundamental change this country needs.”
Pressed again whether Reform could re-use the video, Mr Kerr said: “I am not going to rule out using Anas Sarwar’s words against him because Anas Sarwar is a grown-up politician who deserves to be scrutinised like anyone else in this country.
“He is hoping to be first minister. Every single statement that man has made should be under massive amounts of scrutiny.
“That’s what we’ve done in Hamilton and that’s what we’ll continue to do in this campaign.”
The ad – which Reform spent thousands on to be shown on Facebook and Instagram – shows clips of Mr Sarwar calling for more representation of Scots with south Asian heritage.
He did not say he would prioritise any one group, but the ad superimposed words claiming he would prioritise Pakistani people.
Nigel Farage has previously doubled down on the ad, playing it at an event in London last year and accusing Mr Sarwar of having “introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics”.
Scottish Reform leader Malcolm Offord also suggested the party could back Mr Sarwar to become first minister.
He said: “We couldn’t work with Labour because they don’t share our view on economic growth,” he said.
“Anas says words that I sometimes recognise like economic growth and getting rid of quangos, etc, but then I look at what’s actually happened in London in the last two years, where a whole series of measures by Labour has killed our economic growth.
“So, we could just not find any accommodation in that regard.”
But when asked what he would do if Reform UK had to choose a first minister, Mr Offord said he wasn’t experienced in the “machinations of Holyrood” and that he would “cross that bridge when we get to it.”
Mr Sarwar has previously ruled out any deal with Reform to become first minister.
Holyrood’s proportional voting system makes it unlikely that any party can win a majority, meaning leaders often have to rely on the votes of other MSPs to form the Government.
Dame Jackie Baillie, deputy leader of Scottish Labour, said Reform looked “more desperate by the day” and that it was “no wonder after the shambolic start to their campaign”.
“While Reform and the SNP are distracted by their own chaos and their own fringe obsessions, Scottish Labour is focused on getting the basics right and delivering for Scotland.”
Jamie Greene, Lib Dem candidate for Inverclyde, added: “Racism is racism, no matter how hard you try to spin it, and the good people of Scotland are better than this nonsense politics.”
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