Swinney summit backfires with soaring support for Reform party

SUPPORT for Reform UK in Scotland has soared by 35% since John Swinney hosted an ‘anti-far-right summit’ in the spring.

- By Douglas Dickie

The First Minister refused to invite Nigel Farage’s party to the taxpayer-funded meeting in Glasgow, and just this week said its “farright politics” were “consuming the Labour and the Conservative parties”.

But in a clear sign that his tactics are backfiring, support for Reform has increased since the summit as Mr Swinney pushes more voters towards the party.

Mockery

In the 10 opinion polls taken before April’s summit, Reform polled at an average of 13.3% in the constituency vote. But in the 10 polls since, that figure has increased to 17.9%.

The party has seen its average polling total in the list vote rise even more, from 12.7% to 17.2% in the same period. Some polls now suggest Reform could win the second biggest block of MSPs behind the SNP.

‘The figures make a mockery of Mr Swinney’s campaign tactics to talk up the threat of Mr Farage’s party. Professor James Mitchell, Professor of Public Policy at the University of Edinburgh, told the Scottish Express that Mr Swinney and the SNP were the “main source of publicity” for Reform, which lacks an “organisational base across Scotland’s constituencies”.

Some observers have suggested Mr Swinney is talking up Reform to further split the Unionist vote, but Mr Mitchell claims that is a risky strategy.