2 weeks Ago By Conor Matchett
NIGEL Farage is “not scared of Scotland” and will lead Reform UK’s Holyrood election campaign - despite dodging his party’s conference in Perth yesterday. But the party leader dodged their conference in Perth yesterday, after once being hounded into a pub by angry Scots in 2013. 3 Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice claimed boss Nigel Farage would arrive in "due course" after he was absent from the conference 3 Crowds packed the Royal George Hotel in Perth as the conference got underway 3 Nigel Farage sheltered in an Edinburgh pub after being heckled on a visit during his time leading UKIP Credit: Andrew Milligan /PA Wire Asked whether Mr Farage was skipping the event due to prior events , deputy leader Richard Tice said: “Nigel loves Scotland , of course he’s not scared of Scotland.
“We are growing fast, there’s a lot going on and Nigel will be here in due course. “We’ve got 18 months until the Holyrood thing and we’ll be growing it, ramping it up, and we’re going to make great progress.” And Mr Tice and other senior Reform figures insisted Mr Farage was the man to lead the party into the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.
Read more Scottish news TAIL FAIL Cops being probed after failing to stop Skye murderer before he shot couple BRUTAL ATTACK Drug-crazed fiend guilty of stabbing young mum 45 times & leaving her to die But Mr Farage has not been in Scotland since April 2023, and not since becoming leader of Reform UK in July this year ahead of the General Election . Mr Tice said: “Nigel is the best known most recognisable politician in the UK . “We’re a unionist party and Nigel is an MP for Clacton so obviously he is not going to be in Holyrood, but we will have great candidates and we’ll have some great representatives who I believe will be able to help the Scottish people make a difference.
” Polling suggests Reform could win as many as 10 seats with support averaging around 10 per cent on the regional list. Most read in Politics EMOTIONAL SEND OFF Hundreds attend Salmond's memorial as Proclaimers sing rousing anthem VLAD'S TURMOIL Putin 'scared to death of Trump & Ukraine war will end in DAYS on return' MID-AIR DRAMA TUI flight forced to abort over UK with 193 passengers at risk of passing out DEFECT FEARS Scottish Tories braced for defections to Nigel Farage's Reform UK party Mr Tice has previously said his party wants to be the “kingmakers” in Holyrood, and would vote to see Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar as First Minister. He also ruled out a deal with the SNP, saying Reform were a “unionist” party.
Nigel Farage - 'China view the Commonwealth as something they can break up' Around 350 people attended Reform’s Scotland conference in a packed Royal George Hotel in Perth. And the event saw party chairman, Zia Yusuf, blast ex-SNP leader and former first minister Humza Yousaf for a Holyrood speech where he highlighted the lack of diversity in senior public-facing positions. Mr Yusuf said: “It was one of the most despicable and racist speeches of any world leader.
“If a political leader stood up and fired off that sort of invective about any other race , they would have been arrested and locked up so fast their feet would have barely touched the ground.” He also attacked the controversial Hate Crime Act, labelling it: “It’s less Scotland, and more Soviet Union.” Reform also confirmed two defections from Scottish Tory councillors in North Ayrshire , Matthew McLean and Stewart Ferguson.
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