Reform UK is not seeking defectors in Scotland to overtake Scottish Labour, the party's leader has stated. The party secured 17 seats at Holyrood on Friday, marking its first electoral breakthroughs in the Scottish Parliament.
Speaking to the Press Association on Saturday, Malcolm Offord emphasised that Reform's role would be to challenge and scrutinise. Despite being tied with Scottish Labour for second place, Lord Offord confirmed he had no intentions of expanding his party's ranks through defections.
"No, we haven't had any eye on that at all," he said. "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 previous Holyrood session, Graham Simpson, joined Reform following a defection from the Tories, who dropped to just 12 seats. Across the chamber, parties have ruled out collaborating with Reform, potentially hindering the party's ability to shape legislation or pass its own members' Bills.
When asked how Reform MSPs could influence Holyrood, Lord Offord said: "Our job will be to be challenging and scrutinising, especially if we end up with an SNP alliance with the extremist Greens who are going to drive this country into poverty. We cannot allow that; our job alone is worthwhile as the challenger and scrutineer of extreme policies coming to Scotland."
The party aims to demonstrate to the Scottish people that current policies are detrimental, which Lord Offord believes will benefit Reform in the upcoming council elections next year and the next Holyrood poll in 2031. "This is only the start," he added.
The SNP maintained its dominance at Holyrood, winning 58 seats on Friday as the largest party, but fell short of the overall majority that First Minister John Swinney had indicated would trigger talks with Westminster on another independence referendum. However, Lord Offord dismissed the independence issue as a "dead duck."
"It's not going to happen anytime soon," he said. "Their share of the vote seems to be declining, and when you combine the SNP and Green votes, it's less than a million now. Compare that to the 1.6 million votes in the 2014 indyref—it keeps going down. There's no appetite for another referendum."
The former Tory peer later expressed confidence that all 17 Reform MSPs elected this year would still represent the party in 12 months. The party's new MSPs convened in Glasgow on Saturday, coinciding with a protest organised by Stand Up To Racism elsewhere in the city.
Ahead of the march, Glasgow-based anti-racism campaigner Zamard Zahid described it as an opportunity to "reject the hateful and divisive politics of Reform and the far right." Lord Offord responded by highlighting the freedom to protest in the UK, stating: "That shows the beauty of this country. You are allowed to protest and express your views, but the most important opinion is that of voters at the ballot box. That is the most significant protest in a democracy—you put your X in the box, and 383,000 people in Scotland have supported Reform, which is a substantial number."
