Reform claims John Swinney 'way overstepping' with summit

John Swinney is being accused of “way overstepping his mark” with his anti-Reform summit later this week.

The First Minister is holding a summit against the rise of the far-right in Glasgow on Wednesday, widely dubbed as an anti-Reform summit, bringing together political, religious and civic leaders.

An invitation has been extended to all of the political parties in Holyrood, but Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay says he will not be attending as it is “not required”, and accused Mr Swinney of using the meeting to “deflect from the SNP’s dismal record”.

John Swinney during a press conference in Bute House | Press Association

Councillor Thomas Kerr, who defected to Reform from the Scottish Conservatives earlier this year, says the summit is “democracy denial” and makes the First Minister “look ludicrous”.

Speaking to BBC The Sunday Show, Councillor Kerr said: “I think this is a political stunt and I really worry when the First Minister of Scotland uses his platform to play politics.

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“This is taxpayers’ money being used on this summit, on this stunt by John Swinney to play politics against opponents he doesn’t like.

“My message to John Swinney is beat us at the ballot box - we are polling at 17 per cent, people are scunnered and fed up, and having the political establishment sitting around a table talking about how they don’t like us doesn’t do anything but encourage people to think we are talking some sense.”

He added: “The First Minister has way overstepped his mark and it is democracy denial.”

Councillor Kerr also says he “takes issue” with Mr Swinney’s characterisation of Reform UK sowing division because he is “a nationalist who has spent his life trying to divide the country”.

Former Scottish Conservative candidate Thomas Kerr has defected to Reform UK. Picture: John Linton/PA Wire | John Linton/Press Association

The First Minister was also interviewed by BBC The Sunday Show and said doing nothing risks the erosion of Scotland’s democratic system.

He said: “The purpose is to recognise we are facing significant challenges to the democratic system.

“We all have to take steps to protect these democratic systems which have served us so well for so many years.

“If we are passive we risk them being eroded.”

Mr Swinney added: “There are threats to that democratic system coming from a range of pressures which seek to undermine the central values of society and part of that argument is the rhetoric of Reform - that is contributing to that.”

Mr Swinney says Reform UK has been shut out of this summit because it is not a parliamentary party.

Councillor Kerr says he would have liked an invitation because he is “repulsed” by racism and the far-right.

He added his party is not far right because it “wants to clamp down on illegal immigration and secure our borders” as opposed to having “an ideological, extreme, thuggish attitude to minorities”.

The latest polling has put Reform UK at 17 per cent for the Holyrood election, putting them ahead of the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Lib Dems, Scottish Greens and Alba.

Analysis suggests this could see Nigel Farage’s party returning 14 seats at the ballot box.

Polling also suggests the SNP will remain the largest party in Scotland on 34 per cent of the constituency share and 29 per cent of the regional vote, resulting in 55 seats.

In 2021 the SNP won 64 seats.