Russell Findlay launches attack on 'extremists' in Reform as he brands Farage's project 'not a unionist party'
Russell Findlay has warned Reform will not protect the union as he took aim at “extremists” in Nigel Farage’s party.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay has claimed Reform UK is “not even a Unionist party” as he pleaded with voters to stop John Swinney snatching a Holyrood majority he warned could lead to an independence referendum.
Mr Findlay, in a keynote speech in Glasgow before the Holyrood election campaign gets into full stride later this week, warned that “the threat is absolutely real” that the SNP leader securing a Holyrood majority could trigger a re-run of the 2014 referendum.
He told journalists that Reform has “some extremists within their ranks” but dodged questions over whether the party was racist.
Mr Findlay warned that the weakness of the prime minister means a referendum could take place as pressure is piled on Sir Keir Starmer’s government if the SNP manages to achieve a majority.
“The occupant of No 10 Downing Street is Mr flip-flop, Mr U-turn, Sir Keir Starmer”, Mr Findlay said.
“No matter what the Labour government says, we know how weak they are, we know how prone they are to U-turning. And that is very-much a real risk.”
In his speech, the Scottish Conservative leader, whose party is poised to lose around half of its MSPs to Reform according to consistent polling, accused Reform of “draping themselves in the union flag” but argued “they cannot be trusted on the union”.
He added: “I’ll go further than that – they are not even a unionist party.”
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He pointed to comments made by Reform leader in Scotland, Malcolm Offord, which he claimed were a pitch to nationalists to “work with Reform…and the SNP will be in the strongest possible position to break up Britain”.
“They are damned by their own words”, Mr Findlay added.
“Nationalists stand for Reform because they know that Reform will put the union on the line with another referendum.”
He insisted it was “completely credible” to claim that Nigel Farage was not a unionist.
Mr Findlay added: “He was happy to field pro-independence candidates in 2024. And yet here we are in 2026 and they’ve unveiled pro-independence candidates again.
“Lord Offord has said he wants to work with nationalists. He’s provided them with a blueprint for how to achieve not just a referendum but favourable terms in which they could win a referendum. That is not the language of any unionsist.”
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