A furious row between Nigel Farage and Anas Sarwar stepped up, with the Reform chief using a rare visit to Scotland to accuse his Labour rival of “sectarian politics”.
Mr Farage doubled down on his attacks against the Scottish Labour leader, which come in the wake of a Reform UK online ad that has already been branded “racist” by opponents.
Mr Sarwar meanwhile insisted Mr Farage was the “chief clown”, adding that having “finally found his way to Scotland” the Reform leader had shown “just how totally out of touch with our country he is”.
The pair clashed after Mr Farage gave a press conference in Aberdeen, insisting his party has made “remarkable strides in Scotland over the past year”.
We are delighted to welcome former Scottish Labour Councillor @JamieMcGuire__ ✅ pic.twitter.com/yuTg1M4WeY
— Reform UK Scotland (@ReformUKScot) June 2, 2025
Councillor Duncan Massey, who had previously been a Tory member of Aberdeen City Council, was unveiled as a latest defector to Reform, along with former Labour councillor Jamie McGuire.
Speaking as noisy protesters gathered outside the press conference, the Reform UK leader said if the polls are to be believed “we are beginning to eclipse Labour to be the second most popular party in Scottish politics”.
Mr Farage meanwhile predicted his party would come at least third in Thursday’s Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, adding that if it wins it would be the “biggest earthquake Scottish politics has ever seen”.
Much of the campaign for that Holyrood by-election has been dominated by a row over an online Reform advert, which claims that Mr Sarwar will “prioritise” the Pakistani community in Scotland.
Speaking on Monday, Mr Farage alleged that the Scottish Labour leader has a “record of obsession” on the issue of race – citing a speech he gave in Holyrood in 2020 as evidence of this.
Meanwhile, he insisted Reform UK “don’t talk about race at all”.
Mr Farage pointed out his party’s chairman, Zia Yusuf, was someone who “is Scottish-born, but comes from parents who come from the Indian subcontinent”.
The Reform leader continued: “We think everybody should be treated equally. We object, very strongly, to the segmentation of people into different types.”
Adding that the Scottish Labour leader has a “record of obsession on this issue”, he referenced a speech Mr Sarwar gave in 2020 where he noted that key figures across Scotland, from the judiciary, to council chief executives to head teachers, were all white.
Mr Farage said: “I think that speech he gave was sectarian in its very nature – ‘we are the south Asian community, we are going to take over the country and take over the world’.
“We believe what he said was a form of sectarian politics and we don’t like it one little bit.”
Mr Sarwar hit back, saying: “Today, the chief clown Nigel Farage finally found his way to Scotland and showed just how totally out of touch with our country he is.
“Nigel Farage turned up, admitted he can’t win the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, and pledged to cut funding for Scotland’s NHS and public services.
“Nigel Farage is a dangerous clown and the people of Scotland see right through him.”
Mr Farage also hit out at First Minister John Swinney, telling the Scottish Sun that the SNP leader – who has made a number of attacks against Reform – was “anti-English”.
The only way the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse can be confident that they will be voting for hope is by voting SNP to stop Farage and for a better future for Scotland.
— The SNP (@theSNP) May 31, 2025
On the 5th of June, Vote SNP to stop Farage and elect a MSP who will always be on your side. pic.twitter.com/AvDUW6tgoI
With the First Minister having branded Mr Farage and his party “poisonous”, the Reform leader said such “deeply provocative” comments showed a “sort of quite unpleasant anti-Englishness”.
Mr Swinney however told the PA news agency: “I’ve always taken forward my politics on the basis of inclusion, of welcoming people, of working with others – that’s what I’m about.
“Nigel Farage is the opposite of that.
“Nigel Farage stokes division, he seeks to put people against each other and we’re bringing people together in Scotland to create the best future for our country.”
The row continued as Mr Farage also used his press conference to again speak out against the “madness” of the net zero policies being pursued by the governments at Holyrood and Westminster.
He told reporters these had left the oil and gas industry, which is centred in Aberdeen, “in serious decline”.
He insisted: “Even the most ardent proponent of net zero has to accept the world will still be using oil and gas up until 2050 and beyond.
“And yet we have decided to sacrifice this industry as a consensus around net zero has emerged.”
As a result of this, he said parts of Scotland, England and Wales were “literally deindustrialising before our very eyes”.
Mr Farage said: “The madness of this is almost completely and utterly beyond belief.”
