Exclusive:Reform UK 'not intending' to rerun 'racist' Anas Sarwar ad, says Malcolm Offord
Scottish leader Malcolm Offord said his party was running a “very positive campaign” and had no plans to use the attack ad.
Reform UK is “not intending” to rerun a “racist” advert about Anas Sarwar at next month’s Holyrood election.
Scottish leader Malcolm Offord told The Scotsman during an interview in Greenock that his party was running a “very positive campaign” and had no plans to use the attack ad.
During last summer’s Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by election, Reform UK used an advert which accused Mr Sarwar of promising to “prioritise the Pakistani community” in Scotland.
The advert was even played by UK leader Nigel Farage at a press conference in a visit north of the border. SNP First Minister John Swinney branded it a “racist attack”.
Last week, leading Scottish Reform candidate Thomas Kerr suggested it could be used again over the coming weeks.
But when asked about the Glasgow MSP candidate’s suggestion, Mr Offord said: “That’s not what he said. He said that we should always be allowed to use the exact words of any politician who said something on the record.
“All Thomas said was that whatever a politician said on the record can be used on a future occasion. That’s all he said.”
When asked if he would use the advert again, he said: “We’re not intending to run [it]. We’re not intending to do that.
“We’re running a very positive campaign. We’re the only people in this election talking about the real issues.”
When asked if he thinks Anas Sarwar prioritises the Pakistani community, he said: “That’s not relevant to this. We’re standing here in Inverclyde, talking about the cost of living crisis in Inverclyde. And that is what we’re campaigning for here.”
The ad – which Reform spent thousands on to be shown on Facebook and Instagram – shows clips of Mr Sarwar calling for more representation of Scots with south Asian heritage.
He did not say he would prioritise any one group, but the ad superimposed words claiming he would prioritise Pakistani people.
Mr Farage previously doubled down on the ad, playing it at an event in London last year and accusing Mr Sarwar of having “introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics”.
Polls earlier suggested Reform could come second in the election - with more than 20 seats. But recent polls have seen the party’s fortunes dip.
It comes after what has been a chaotic campaign for the party, with several candidates dropping out and controversial social media posts surfacing.
It also emerged that Mr Offord had made a controversial joke - which was accused of being homophobic and racist - about George Michael at a rugby club in 2018. He apologised afterwards and made a donation to a gay rugby club.
Mr Offord said he would be disappointed if the party only won 12 MSPs next month, despite having never been elected to Holyrood before.
When asked what a successful result would be, Mr Offord said: “That’s a bit of a loaded question. Clearly the magic number would be 66, right?”
Sixty-five MSPs is needed for a majority.
When asked if he would be disappointed if the party if the party only got a dozen MSPs, he said: “That’s your number. Yes, I would be disappointed if we only got a dozen.”
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