Malcolm Offord named Reform’s Scottish leader ahead of ‘two-horse race’ election

A former Tory UK government minister has been announced as Reform UK’s leader in Scotland.

Malcolm Offord quit the House of Lords to run for Nigel Farage’s party in May’s Holyrood election.

Rather than being elected to the role of leader, Mr Offord was appointed to the post directly by Mr Farage, with the new Scottish leader saying it is a “great honour”.

His appointment was announced by Mr Farage at a press conference in Fife on Thursday – with the Reform UK leader declaring the upcoming election will be a “two-horse race” between his party and the SNP.

He added: “I think we could even surprise ourselves with just how many votes we manage to garner in this elections.

“A huge chunk of the Scottish electorate are looking for something different, they’re tired of the decline this country has seen under SNP Government.”

Noting that opinion polls have shown “some considerable shift” towards Reform, Mr Farage continued: “I’m increasingly of the view that these elections on May 7 will be literally a two-horse race in Scotland between us and the SNP.

“I believe we will be seen as the main opposition because neither the Conservative Party nor Labour Party have been able to provide genuine, real coherence to much of the damage the SNP have done for Scotland.”

He said this is because of “quite big internal divisions” within Labour and the Tories, while in contrast he said Reform UK is “very united in our vision” and “very optimistic”.

Mr Offord’s appointment as Reform UK’s Scottish leader comes just over a month after he defected from the Tories.

He served as a Scotland Office minister and business minister in the previous Conservative administration at Westminster, but Thursday’s press conference saw him sign the paperwork to end his time in the House of Lords.

Mr Farage said that has seen “Lord Offord of Garvel become Malcolm from Greenock”.

He said his party’s new Scottish leader had made a “brave and principled move” by giving up his peerage, adding: “After all, the House of Lords is a club for life, subsidised lunch, sleep on the benches all afternoon.”

He said Mr Offord had “given it all up” to stand for Reform in May.

Mr Offord said: “It’s a great honour to be named today as the new leader of Reform UK Scotland.

“I shall be campaigning hard between now and May 7, to communicate a positive vision of how we can all work together to make Scotland the most successful part of the UK in the next 10 years.

“We represent ordinary, decent, hardworking Scots who are fed up with mid-table mediocrity in Holyrood. Which is why we will be fielding Reform candidates in all 73 constituencies with one sole objective – to get Scotland back to the top of the table.

“This is an exciting time for Scotland. The election in May allows Scots to finally get rid of this rotten SNP Government who have had plenty of time to deliver prosperity for Scotland and have failed.”