Reform’s Scottish leader is embroiled in a racism row less than 24 hours after being elected.
Millionaire Lord Malcolm Offord said Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar should be asked about ‘sharia law’ during an event to celebrate Reform’s electoral success yesterday.
The peer was quizzed over Reform MSP Senga Beresford, who previously endorsed calls for Muslims to be deported, and was asked whether her views may be described as extremist.
The Reform leader said her comments were ‘only in relation to sharia law’ and said: ‘We don’t want sharia law coming here.’
Asked if there was ‘any suggestion that sharia law is coming to Scotland’, Lord Offord replied: ‘Well, that’s a question you need to ask Anas Sarwar because that was never clarified.’
Scottish Labour leader Mr Sarwar, who is Muslim, has previously been a victim of racist abuse, including in 2018 when an online troll was convicted of sending him menacing social media messages, including claims he was trying to ‘target Scots’ with a ‘watered down version of sharia law’.
Malcolm Offord was quizzed over Reform MSP Senga Beresford, who previously endorsed calls for Muslims to be deported
A Scottish Labour source said: ‘The election of Senga Beresford represents a fundamental low ebb for Scottish politics and requires a moment of reflection. It is clear Malcolm Offord is incapable of that type of reflection. This is racism and ignorance, filtered through conspiracy, and for some reason he is defending it.’
Mr Sarwar had a furious exchange with Lord Offord during a televised debate ahead of polling day, when he asked the peer where he thought his children should go if members of Reform felt Muslims should be deported.
Reform was also accused of racism during the Hamilton by-election last year when the party posted an out-of-context video of Mr Sarwar speaking at an event in 2022 celebrating the anniversary of Pakistan’s independence, where he said: ‘Pakistanis need to be represented in every mainstream political party in Scotland and across the UK.’
Text underneath the video stated: ‘Anas Sarwar has said he will prioritise the Pakistani community.’
John Swinney and other politicians demanded the ad be removed from Facebook, while Nigel Farage said Mr Sarwar was ‘obsessed with race’.
Yesterday Lord Offord insisted his party, which now has 17 MSPs, would be the opposition to the SNP and would ‘scrutinise everything that comes through from that government’.
He said: ‘We’re going to hold this government to account. Especially if the SNP get into some sort of alliance with the extremist Greens.’
The peer said he was ‘very confident’ that all 17 of his MSPs would still be Reform parliamentarians in a year’s time, following the previous vetting problems which forced a number of candidates to drop out of the race before polling day.
But with the party tied with Scottish Labour for second place, Lord Offord said he was not looking to add to his party’s ranks.
He said: ‘No, we haven’t had any eye on that at all. We’re happy with the 17 that we’ve got, we’re going to work really hard in the parliament.’
The party’s sole MSP in the last Holyrood session – Graham Simpson – came as a defector from the Tories, which has seen its number of MSPs drop to just 12.
Lord Offord said the party will aim to ‘demonstrate to the Scottish people that what’s being done is bad for them’, adding that it would stand the party in good stead for the council elections next year and the next Holyrood poll in 2031.
He said: ‘This is only the start.’