Farage due in Falkirk as Reform UK gears up for Holyrood campaign

Nigel Farage is due to hold a rally in Falkirk on Saturday, prompting John Swinney to accuse him of seeking to “whip up hate”.

The Reform UK leader and other key figures are expected to gather on Saturday as the party gears up its Scottish Parliament election campaign.

Falkirk has been the site of regular anti-immigration protests outside the Cladhan Hotel, which is being used to house asylum seekers.

These have often been organised by a group called Save Our Future and Our Kids Futures, which says locals want action following alleged crimes by those housed at the Cladhan Hotel.

A group called Falkirk for All, which has staged opposing counter-demonstrations outside the Cladhan, will hold a “unity march” through the town on Saturday.

SNP leader and Scotland’s First Minister Mr Swinney had earlier described comments from Mr Farage about Glasgow schoolchildren as “simply racist”.

Mr Farage, in a video on social media, claimed one in three schoolchildren in Glasgow do not speak English as their first language.

Posting on social media, Reform UK Scotland said the First Minister’s rhetoric was “unhinged”.

Ahead of the rally on Saturday, Mr Swinney said: “Nigel Farage has no interest in people in Falkirk or anywhere else in Scotland.

“Farage needs to understand that communities in Scotland are not props to be used in his political games.

“For a multi-millionaire Thatcherite from the heart of the Westminster establishment to come to Falkirk and try and pretend to be on the side of working people is a complete joke.”

He added: “He just wants to come up here and whip up hate for his own purposes – and the SNP is not going to let him get away with it.

“We will face him down and advance a totally different approach to Scotland’s future – where we give people hope and use Scotland’s huge resources to bring bills down and put money in people’s pockets.”

Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman will be joining the “unity” march through Falkirk.

She said: “Reform represents the very worst of politics.

“Only this week we saw Farage announce record donations from the super rich while he targeted multilingual children and their families.

“Racist attacks on children must not become normalised in our politics.

“When Reform’s message spreads it means more pain and anxiety for migrant communities, people of colour and others who are targeted by prejudice and bigotry.”