Plans to put immigration detention centres in Green-held constituencies are “democratically fair”, Reform UK’s leader in Scotland has said.
On Sunday, the party’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf announced that a Reform UK government at Westminster would not build immigration detention centres in seats held by his party’s MPs, or where they were in control of the local authority.
It was later clarified that the same would be done in seats held by the Greens at Holyrood.
Speaking to the Press Association during a campaign visit in Larkhall, South Lanarkshire on Tuesday, Malcolm Offord said: “We have to reflect democracy.
“People haven’t actually voted in this country on this level of immigration and so this is a democratic way of finding out which communities wish to welcome those people and which don’t.”
He added: “Within each of those constituencies there will be a places that can be identified to do this in a civilised, humane way, but that’s what they vote for, it’s reasonable they should have a higher percentage.”
The Greens do not run in all of Scotland’s 73 constituencies, and recent polls have suggested they are serious contenders in just three – Glasgow Kelvin and Maryhill, Glasgow Southside and Edinburgh Central – all of which house areas where property prices are significantly higher than the national average, but also significant areas of deprivation.
Asked if it would be right to focus on three particularly expensive areas for such facilities, Mr Offord said: “They have the greatest appetite and they’re also also very wealthy communities and they’re probably paying quite a lot in council tax, so they’ve probably got more means to accommodate that than in poorer areas.
“A lot of the poorer areas are taking too high a share of that issue, the burden is too high, especially in Glasgow, in the east end of Glasgow.
“So maybe it is appropriate the west end of Glasgow steps up and does its share.”
Speaking to the Press Association earlier in the day, Scottish Green co-leader Ross Greer likened the facilities to “concentration camps”.
He said: “Reform are taking this straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook – voters in Scotland will not be threatened and bullied by Nigel Farage like this.
“If anything, there’s going to be a bigger backlash against this than there was against the Reform Scottish leader bragging about his six houses, five cars and six yachts.
“Reform are literally talking about migrant detention camps. The other word for that is a concentration camp, where you concentrate a group of people. And doing it in areas where they don’t like how people vote – that is anti-democratic.
“It’s insulting, but most importantly, it’s cruel to these people who’ve come here seeking safety and sanctuary. The Greens are proud that Scotland is a welcoming country.
“We are standing on a manifesto that includes solidarity with immigrants, with asylum seekers and refugees, and we know that people across the country are not going to be bullied by these rich boys in Reform.”
But speaking to journalists, Lord Offord rejected the accusation, saying: “The difference is (this is) a camp where you’re given humane accommodation, you are given medical treatment where you’re assessed and looked after humanely.
“It’s a place where you are able to process people who come here illegally, it’s a long way different from a concentration camp.”
Mr Greer added that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was “making the case for Scottish independence”.
“(Nigel Farage) is threatening the people of Scotland,” he said.
“This is straight out the Trump playbook, where you punish people for voting a way that you didn’t want. Voters in Scotland are too canny for that.
“They’re not going to be threatened and bullied by these rich boys trying to throw their weight around by people like Nigel Farage and Lord Malcolm Offord.
“Voters in Scotland are going to reject that. The fact that Farage even feels comfortable making these threats shows how urgently Scotland needs to become an independent nation.”
