REFORM UK's deputy Scottish leader Thomas Kerr has been accused of "sickening fearmongering" after going on a "walkabout" in Glasgow and claiming that the city is full of "disorder, intimidation, and neglect".
The Glasgow MSP issued a press release after visiting the centre of the city and claiming to see a number of "shocking scenes".
In a press release issued to the media on Thursday, Kerr listed a number of scenarios he claimed to have seen during the space of 30 minutes.
He said: "I saw what appeared to be a drug deal taking place in broad daylight, people openly consuming drugs, widespread alcohol abuse, large groups of men gathering around St Enoch Square creating an intimidating atmosphere, and behaviour from some men that left a young teenage girl appearing visibly uncomfortable".
Attached in the press release was an image which showed Kerr walking past two young non-white young people who are standing against a wall, their faces blurred.
There is nothing in the image to suggest the two young men are doing anything wrong.
The image is a screenshot from a video Kerr went on to post on social media, in which he linked "lawlessness" to migration.
The "evidence" Kerr collates in the video is a collection of shots of different groups of people – most of whom are not white – sat or stood in small groups, while one clip shows an overflowing bin.
The National has not seen evidence that anyone featured in the video has committed any crime.
Join me on a walk around lawless Glasgow City Centre👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/RehaYOocvm
— Thomas Kerr MSP (@ThomasKerrMSP) July 16, 2026
In the clip, Kerr claimed that he had "witnessed four migrants staring at a young girl who is about 15 years old".
Kerr has repeatedly come under fire for his false claims about Glasgow's crime rates.
The MSP has previously claimed that Glasgow has seen a "rapid rise in violent crimes" and a "crime epidemic", yet the latest figures show this is not the case.
The SNP called on Kerr to apologise, accusing him of "sickening fearmongering through insinuation".
SNP MSP Zen Ghani, who represents Glasgow Cathcart and Pollok, told The National: “This is straight from the Reform playbook of whipping up hysteria to sow division in our communities.
“Thomas Kerr can go for as many walkabouts as he likes, the facts speak for themselves – Scotland remains a safe place to live with recorded crime around half the level it was at its peak in 1991.
“This is sickening fearmongering through insinuation and Thomas Kerr should apologise for suggesting that certain people should be viewed as dangerous without having any proof.”
Meanwhile, the Scottish Greens said Reform "only interested in stoking division" by "aiming a camera at people in the street and encouraging people to be afraid of them".
Glasgow MSP Iris Duane told The National: "Glasgow is not a zoo for Thomas Kerr to wander round with a minder, gawking at members of the public and calling it public service. Real change in this city goes far beyond a headline, and certainly much further beyond some budget spoof of Scot Squad.
"This is not what being an MSP is about. People in our city are dealing with serious issues such as the housing emergency, a cost of living crisis, and struggling with substance misuse."
Duane added: “I’ve spent my week engaging with organisations that are fighting to fix these; including standing with Sisters Against Cuts and meeting directly with the Murray’s Initiative to work out how we secure funding to get people off the streets and into support - I did not see Thomas there."
The Glasgow MSP said that if Kerr cared about Glasgow city centre, “he'd be bringing solutions to the chamber, not spending his afternoons pointing at problems caused by years of Tory austerity and decades of Thatcherism", which Duane said Kerr is "more than familiar with as a former Tory councillor, who increasingly fought hard for these Tory policies".
"Glasgow has real problems that deserve real answers; on drugs, on poverty, and years of underfunding, but Reform UK have none of that, they have former Tories getting angry at their own homework," Duane continued.
"If Reform want to talk about who's failed Glasgow, they should look at their own record: opposing investment in youth services, opposing action on poverty, proposing dramatic cuts to budgets and now trying to score political points by aiming a camera at people in the street and encouraging people to be afraid of them.
“None of that is solved by Thomas Kerr playing amateur crime correspondent and smearing teenagers to get a headline. Reform are only interested in stoking division."
