Reform UK’s Scottish leader Lord Malcolm Offord has insisted he faced no backlash over his recent comments about owning six houses, five cars, and six boats, despite being branded “out of touch” by SNP leader John Swinney.
Offord Defends Wealth Remarks
Speaking during a campaign visit in Castlemilk, Glasgow, Lord Offord dismissed claims of public criticism. “I haven’t had any backlash, that’s news to me,” he told reporters on Thursday. Instead, he argued that many people he meets express admiration for his success. “Every single person that I am talking to in every single area I go to says: ‘Good on you big man, because I want to be like you, I want to work hard.’”
He added that young people in particular ask why they are not receiving the same educational opportunities he had. “So the reason why I am here and the reason why I am talking about it is because we have to fix this. Scots are the most creative, innovative people in the world,” he said.
SNP Criticism
John Swinney had earlier condemned the comments as “tone deaf” amid the cost-of-living crisis. “I thought the setting of an individual’s personal wealth, at a time when people are really facing acute hardship … was an example of how completely and utterly out of touch Reform are with the reality of people’s lives,” the First Minister stated.
Swinney also urged voters to back the SNP to “stop Nigel Farage at the border,” a phrase Lord Offord described as intemperate. “I don’t think that is in any way temperate language,” Offord said, adding that Reform UK is “a good thing for Scotland.”
Election Context
With one week until the Holyrood election, polls suggest Reform UK could finish second behind the SNP. Lord Offord argued that many voters feel disillusioned with established parties. “People tell me they are not voting because nothing changes, it’s the same old same old, whether it’s Labour, SNP or Tories,” he said.
He positioned Reform as a “new party” and a “challenger” offering change. “We have an opportunity as a new party, as a challenger, to say we are on the side of working people and we are going to fix it. We want to change Scotland for the better and give everybody opportunity,” he added.
Warning on SNP-Green Coalition
Lord Offord warned that another power-sharing deal between the SNP and Scottish Greens could bankrupt the country. “Do you want to be in a Scotland where people make money or not? Simple as that. Do you want Reform, or do you want the Greens? Because if the SNP and the Greens get back into power it is going to be everything for free and your taxes go up and the country is going to go broke,” he said.
The comments came after a debate clash with Scottish Green co-leader Ross Greer, which Offord said highlighted the choice voters face on May 7.
