Reform candidate denies party video was racist

The intensifying “racism” row over Reform’s social media election adverts has dominated the past week of the Hamilton, Larkhall & Stonehouse election campaign.

- JUDITH TONNER

Party leader Nigel Farage defended the video-which claims Anas Sarwar would “prioritise the Pakistani community” alongside film clips in which the Labour leader does not make that statement-at a press conference in London, while Mr Sarwar said the Reform leader was attempting to “get poison into our politics in Scotland”.

Reform candidate Ross Lambie told the BBC the party's social media video was “absolutely not racist” but noted that the words in the controversial caption were ‘a quote from us’.

He told the Good Morning Scotland: programme on Tuesday morning: “We’re not misleading people at all, all we’ve done is share two clips of Anas Sarwar’s own speech.”

He said prioritising the Pakistani community “was what the whole speech was about” and that Mr Sarwar was 'deflecting’.