Rise of Reform partly due to racism, says John Swinney

The rise of Reform UK is partly due to racism, Scotland’s First Minister has said.

John Swinney said people are also supporting Nigel Farage’s party because they are “angry” and “fed up with the state of our society”.

The SNP leader said he does not believe in Reform’s immigration policies and that there is no “rational argument” against migration to Scotland due to the country’s shortage of working-age adults.

Speaking to BBC Scotland’s Scotcast podcast, the First Minister said racism is one of the driving forces behind Reform UK.

“I think that’s a product of two things,” he said. “Part of it is made up of people who genuinely hold views with which I profoundly disagree.

“There will be some views in there which will be intolerant of people from other countries and other races, racist views, which I don’t hold, there will be some of them in there.

“But there are also a lot of people in there who are angry, and they’re fed up with the state of our society and our community, and I take some responsibility for that as First Minister.

“They’re just finding life really tough, and they’re angry.

“I try to explain to those people that the politics of Farage would be a disaster for our country if we go down that route.”

Polls suggest Reform UK could become the second largest party at the Scottish Parliament after the May election.

Mr Farage appointed former Tory minister Malcolm Offord as Reform’s Scottish leader in January, and on Thursday Mr Farage will announce his candidates for the election.

Last year, Mr Swinney convened a summit to discuss the threat from the far-right.

At the time, Reform criticised him for not inviting the party to take part, accusing him of an “anti-democratic” attempt to curb the party’s growing public support.

The SNP leader previously said Reform’s immigration stance had caused him “enormous concern”, and Mr Swinney has argued for more migrants in Scotland to fill labour shortages.

Asked if it is always right-wing to be worried about immigration, Mr Swinney told Scotcast: “I don’t think there is a rational argument against immigration in the circumstances Scotland faces today, because we have a shortage of the working-age population in Scotland.

“I can’t speak to a single sector in Scotland that doesn’t say to me ‘we’re short of people’. Not just short of skills, short of people.

“That is because of the nature of our population and I think we need to be pragmatic about that and attract others to come into Scotland as a consequence.

“That’s the rational argument for immigration. I don’t see a rational argument against it.

“But there will be people against immigration because they hold racist views.”

Mr Swinney said he is not surprised some people in Scotland have racist views, pointing to the rise of the National Front in the 1970s, during which he attended anti-racist marches.

“These sentiments have not been far away from us. We’re back there now,” he added.

Reform UK has been approached for comment.