A FORMER Scottish Labour councillor who quit the party amid a row over “racist” comments has joined Reform UK.
Audrey Dempsey’s decision to join Nigel Farage’s party comes just one day after MSP Graham Simpson defected from the Conservatives.
A Glasgow councillor, Dempsey’s move means that Reform UK now have more representatives on Scotland’s largest local authority than the Tories do (two vs one).
Thomas Kerr, another Glasgow councillor who defected from the Conservatives in January, welcomed Dempsey to the Reform group, saying she “might be the latest, but I assure you she won’t be the last”.
Reform UK said that the new sign-up meant they had 17 councillors in Scotland.
Dempsey quit Scottish Labour in April 2024 after she claimed “racist attacks on white children and teachers” had been rising in schools across the city.
She was further found to have liked a number of tweets about “anti-white racism" from the far-right Homeland Party, including some slamming Labour.
One of the posts liked by Dempsey said: “Shocking to see you [Dempsey] suspended for standing up for Scottish children, shows where Labour’s priorities are. The @Homeland_Party is the only party that will truly support our people.”
She also liked another post which claimed that “those who stand up for the natives are treated disgustingly” and added: “@Homeland_Party stand by their candidates and don’t abandon the good people who care about their constituents.”
Kenny Smith, the chair of the Homeland Party, said he commended Dempsey for “raising concerns about anti-white racism”.
In a press release announcing her defection, Farage's party characterised the episode by saying: "Councillor Dempsey bravely left the Labour Party last year after a smear campaign from the Glasgow Labour Group attempted to attack her character when she stood up for parents across the city."
After joining Reform, Dempsey said: “Since 2022, I have always tried to do what I believe was right and best for the community I am proud to call my home in Springburn/Robroyston.”
“Initially, for me, like thousands of other Glaswegians I believed that power would come from Scottish Labour, but how wrong could I have been?
“Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar have done more damage to working-class communities like mine over the past year than my worst fears could have imagined.”
Dempsey said she had been in talks with Reform UK for "over one year now".
She added: “This isn’t the Labour Party as we knew it, it’s a clique of self-serving individuals who treat communities like mine with utter contempt.
“That’s why today, I am proud to have found my new political home with a party that shares my values, beliefs and convictions for real and radical change.”
Dempsey is the third former Scottish Labour councillor to join the ranks of Reform UK, following Jamie McGuire in Renfrewshire and Julie MacDougall in Fife.
