A ROW erupted on BBC Debate Night over a "racist" political advert published by Reform UK.
Last week, Nigel Farage’s party was accused of “not so much a dog whistle as a foghorn” after it was found to have promoted an advert on Facebook and Instagram which claimed Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar would “prioritise the Pakistani community”.
The quote, which Reform UK falsely attributed to Sarwar, included selected clips from a video which had been spread by far- and alt-right agitators on social media the previous month.
The National revealed how Reform UK have spent more than £10,000 promoting the advert online, despite sparking outrage from across the political spectrum.
And on the BBC's Debate Night programme on Wednesday evening, politicians once again condemned the advert.
Wednesday's programme featured Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, Reform UK councillor Thomas Kerr, Scottish Tory MSP Craig Hoy, Scottish Labour deputy leader Jackie Baillie, Scottish LibDems leader Alex Cole-Hamilton, and Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater.
The SNP's Forbes hit out at Kerr over the party's claim that the advert was simply publishing "the exact words" spoken by Sarwar.
She said: "It was racist, but there's something else that's troubling. It was dishonest.
"If you want to restore trust in politics, you need honesty.
"If you want to ensure that we move forward together and cut any division that you're talking about, that has to be based on honesty and trust."
She added: "The reason why people feel let down is because they were promised change last year by Labour, it wasn't delivered, and you've got another party now coming in saying 'we're different, we're the anti-establishment party', and the first thing they've done is broken trust."
“It was dishonest… if you want to restore trust in politics, you need honesty” “This is all a deflection” “You put that out there knowing it would create a political row” The panel debate alleged racism in Reform UK’s advert featuring Labour’s Anas Sarwar#bbcdn pic.twitter.com/aXc6G04L8O
— BBC Debate Night (@bbcdebatenight) May 28, 2025
Baillie also called on Kerr to apologise for the advert.
"I will not apologise for showing Anas Sarwar's own words," the Reform UK councillor told the audience.
"The speech that Anas Sarwar gave is very clear. I would encourage anybody to go and watch the speech themselves rather than the spin that we're hearing.
"This is all a deflection, you are hearing lies. This is a deflection tactic from a Labour candidate who's had a car-crash of a by-election."
Tory MSP Hoy responded: "This is straight out of the Farage playbook.
"I'm not going to pass comment on what was said, because actually if I do that, we're playing into Nigel Farage's hands here.
"What he did and what you probably did, Thomas, you put that out there knowing it would create a political row and draw attention to your politics."
