Reform UK’s tactic to build immigration detention centres only in Green held seats is from “Donald Trump’s playbook”, the Scottish Greens have said.
On Sunday, 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.
Instead, Mr Yusuf said Green voters will “get what they vote for” as part of Reform’s push for mass deportations.
Asked for clarity on how the policy would be executed north of the border if, as polls suggest, Nigel Farage becomes prime minister, Reform councillor Thomas Kerr said the detention centres would be built in constituencies that elect Green MSPs, while areas that elect a Reform constituency MSP would be exempted.
Speaking to the Press Association on Tuesday, Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer said that Reform were taking their campaigning tactics “straight out of Donald Trump’s playbook”, and likened the proposed migrant detention 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.”
Mr Greer continued: “If the Greens weren’t such a big threat to Reform, they wouldn’t be saying anything about us. But they’ve spent the last few weeks incessantly going after the Greens. I think that shows that we’ve struck a nerve.”
The Scottish Greens’ co-leader said that Nigel Farage’s plans to “override Holyrood” if MSPs attempt to block legislation to allow the UK Government to build the migrant detention centres is “making the case for Scottish Independence”.
He said: “Nigel Farage is just making the case for Scottish Independence, isn’t he? I mean he is a pathetic man, but these are just threats.
“He is threatening the people of Scotland. 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.”
A Reform UK spokesperson said: “Ross Greer and the Greens wants to abolish prisons, legalise drugs and open borders.
“Legal heroin and murderers roaming the streets – voters will certainly reject that.”
Reform councillor Thomas Kerr said: “Ross Greer and his merry band of crackpots constantly tell us how loving and warm these illegals are – so I’m confused as to why he now believes we are attempting to ‘intimate’ voters?
“Could it be that Mr Greer is the classic wishy washy wokey lefty that preaches do as I say, not as I do?
“Scotland’s forgotten working-class communities have been dumping grounds for extremist policies championed by the Greens for too long. That changes with Reform. If you vote Green, you need to live with the consequences.”
