Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has declared that it will use its Holyrood election successes as a ‘stepping stone’ towards running Scotland.

The party saw a surge in support across the country as it secured its first victories at Holyrood.

However, it failed to win a single constituency and was blamed by other pro-Union parties for helping the SNP to dominate the constituency vote.

Senior figures said people will just ‘need to deal with’ the fact its successes have led to another SNP government.

Reform came closest to celebrating a constituency victory in Banffshire and Buchan Coast, where its candidate Conrad Ritchie came second, just 364 votes behind the SNP’s Karen Adam.

Speaking after finishing second to the SNP with 25.8 per cent of the vote in Glasgow Baillieston and Shettleston, senior Reform UK candidate Thomas Kerr, who was elected on the regional list, said the party had recorded strong results which can be a ‘stepping stone’. 

Responding to those claiming his party’s successes had helped the SNP win key seats, Mr Kerr said: ‘I think those people are off their nut if that’s the case.

‘We nearly won Banff and Buchan and if the Tories hadn’t stood in that seat, we would have actually defeated an SNP MSP.

‘I’m fed up hearing this nonsense about tactical voting.

‘We are the new kids on the block, we are shaking the political establishment.

‘I have just beaten Labour into second place in the East End of Glasgow. If you’d asked me that months ago, it would have been laughed at.

‘The fact we’ve done it is a very good stepping stone for Reform UK and over the next few months we are going to continue to push that down as we go into those council elections next year and further into the general election.

‘I intend this to only be the start of what I expect is going to be a hugely historic moment for Scotland.’

Mr Kerr also ruled out any prospect of ‘getting into bed’ with the Tories after vying for similar seats across Scotland.

‘I left the Tories for a reason, I am not interested in speaking to that party,’ he said. ‘I spent 14 years in the Conservative Party. The reason I left was because they gave up on places like Shettleston, like Baillieston.

‘I was told many a time not to go and campaign.

‘I knew we could get a result like that and I was told many times not to do it because they focused on key seats in key areas. Reform is here to make sure the political establishment is shaken to their core.

‘If that means we need to deal with another five years of SNP government, we are going to have to just deal with that because that’s what’s happened now.

‘I want to make sure there’s a real alternative shown for the people of Scotland over the next few years. That means winning the councils here in Glasgow and right across the whole of Scotland, that means getting MPs elected and Nigel Farage into Downing Street and making sure we go into the 2031 elections replacing the SNP and the extremist Greens.’

He claimed the Tories are ‘finished and done’ and have become a ‘rump’ of a party in the Scottish parliament.

Lord Malcolm Offord, Reform UK’s Scottish leader, secured only 17.6 per cent of the vote in the Inverclyde constituency and finished third to the SNP’s Stuart McMillan, on 44.3 per cent, with Labour’s Francesca Brennan second on 27.7 per cent. He said he had stood in an ‘SNP heartland’ for 20 years but had ‘got a good response on the doors’ in the seat where he grew up.

Speaking prior to the full results being announced, he said he had been ‘in this to be First Minister’ and believes he could do the job but ‘if not then we will be a strong voice in opposition’. Lord Offord pledged to ‘hold the government to account’ on devolved matters and ‘stop the debate about constitutional matters reserved to Westminster’.

He added: ‘Let’s focus on the day job, let’s focus on the roads, the schools, the hospitals, the police – let’s focus on making the people of Scotland’s lives better.’