SCOTTISH independence supporters will not fall for the far-right's “divisive and bitter” tactics, but the movement must remain united if it is to fight it, an SNP MSP has warned.
Speaking to The National at All Under One Banner’s Glasgow event on Saturday, Strathkelvin and Bearsden MSP Rona Mackay reacted to the rise of Reform UK and the importance of Scottish independence in response to it.
She called the recent success of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in the English local elections “worse than anybody could have imagined”.
Mackay added: “We’re not going to have anything to do with it.
“It’s not the way we want to go and words actually fail me when it comes to Nigel Farage.”
Reform won 677 council seats in England’s local elections this week, and Mackay called it “worrying, the fact he’s coming so close to power”.
In addition to the party’s first council wins, Reform UK also successfully won mayoral contests in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire.
Farage said last week that Reform UK membership has gone up in Scotland, now reportedly at around 10,000 Scottish members.
Mackay believes independence supporters, however, are “clever enough” not to align with far-right ideology.
She said: “I don’t believe any of our supporters will believe that’s a good road to go down.
“I think they’ll realise how divisive and bitter it is, so I don’t think there’s any danger of that, but we need to be united to fight it anyway.”
Mackay also responded to Alba Party leader Kenny MacAskill’s comments on pro-independence parties putting “country before party”, saying: “I think that’s a thing we try to do anyway.
“As the party in government, obviously, you’re dealing with politics, you’re dealing with policies, but we’re all united.
“We want independence – we’ve wanted it for decades, and we have to really stand together to get it now because we need it now more than ever.”
