Reform UK suspends Dundee City West candidate Stuart Niven

According to Companies House, the firm, entered liquidation in December 2023.

A separate listing on Companies House's disqualified directors register, shows that Mr Niven was later disqualified for seven years.

On the disqualification undertaking, under the heading 'matters of unfitness' Mr Niven states: "I caused Britannia Maritime Security Ltd (“BMS”) to breach the terms and conditions of the Bounce Back Loan (“BBL”) scheme by failing to use the funds obtained from the BBL scheme for the economic benefit of BMS".

It goes on to say that, on 8 November 2020, Mr Niven applied for a Government loan of £50,000.

That was paid into his account the very next day.

Prior to receipt of the loan, the balance of the company bank account stood at £12,223 in credit.

On 14 and 15 December 2020 two transfers totalling £50,000 were made from the company to Mr Niven's personal account.

The ex-paratrooper says this money "was subsequently paid to a trading and investment company and all funds invested were lost".

He added: "On 15 December 2020 a transfer of £5,000 was made to the same trading and investment company. £100 was later returned to BMS.

"Factoring in the balance of the bank account and additional income of £1,000 received prior to the payments being made on 14 & 15 December 2020, at least £41,677 of the funds paid to me and the trading and investment company were from the BBL.

"I have not provided evidence that £41,677 expended above were used for the benefit of the Company.

"The Company made one payment of £520.41 towards the BBL. At liquidation £49,815.57 was outstanding in respect of the BBL.

"Total creditor claims in the liquidation amount to £199,158.89."

A spokesperson from Reform UK Scotland said: "We take allegations like this very seriously, and a full investigation is underway."

Being disqualified as a director means a person is judged unfit to run a company.

During the disqualification period, they cannot act as a director or be involved in forming, managing or controlling a company without court permission.

Mr Niven’s disqualification runs from February 10, 2026, until February 9, 2033.

Accounts for Britannia Maritime Security Ltd on Companies House show a dramatic deterioration in its financial position over the past two years.

The company’s net assets fell from £102,490 in 2017 to £57,338 in 2020 to just £1,469 by 2022.

Despite continuing to handle around £240,000 in current assets, the business carried liabilities of roughly the same scale.

Nigel Farage and Malcom Offord launching Reform's manifesto for the Holyrood election

Mr Niven is a British Army veteran from Fife with 16 years in the Parachute Regiment and the SAS.

Britannia Maritime Security specialised in securing the safe passage of merchant shipping through some of the world’s most pirate-infested seas.

A listing on the Shipmarket website says the company has a “great deal of collective experience in the security and risk management sector”.

“We are used to working in challenging situations and dealing with risk in ever-changing environments around the world."

According to a 2014 profile in the Daily Mail, Mr Niven was in charge of delivering a ransom of around £12 million to secure the lives of 18 merchant seamen.

Bounce Back Loans were introduced by the UK Government in May 2020 as an emergency measure to support small businesses during the pandemic. 

No personal guarantees were required, and applications involved only minimal checks, with businesses largely self-certifying their eligibility in order to speed up access to funds.

Meanwhile, the leader of Reform UK Scotland has defended his Holyrood candidates’ “fruity” comments after it emerged they had backed Tommy Robinson and accused former first minister Humza Yousaf of being an “Islamist”.

Malcolm Offord said he was aware of the posts on social media and urged people to “not take offence at every moment in time”.

Within hours, social media posts from the candidates emerged, including some backing far-right figures and calling for the deportation of Muslims.

Linda Holt, the candidate for Fife North East, described Mr Yousaf in social media posts as a “grandstanding Islamist moron” and said he was “not British”, according to The Courier.

Asked about the comments, Mr Offord told BBC Radio Breakfast Scotland: “I’ve been very clear that we have brought in a whole range of candidates, 80% of whom are not politicians.

“They’re real people with real lives who said real things in a past life, okay? This was said before she was a candidate. She wasn’t even a member of the party at that time.

“What we’ve got is a situation in all our lives, in the past, we’ve made comments that might sometimes be intemperate, but the issue with this modern world we live in is everything is now written down and remembered.

“I just think we have to be more realistic about the fact that real people say real things, and now that she’s a candidate she will be held to higher standard.”

Commenting, Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar said: “Reform Scotland’s campaign has immediately been exposed as the farce that it is.

“Malcolm Offord’s car-crash launch gave us a manifesto written on the back of a cigarette packet and a set of candidates totally unfit for public office.

“From the dodgy dealings of a Covid scammer to the divisive tweets of obsessive racists, these scandals show Reform are just taking whoever they can get.

“Reform is treating Scots with contempt by asking them to vote for this hopeless gaggle of Tory rejects and odd balls, and I have no doubt Scotland will send them packing.

“The spineless Lord Offord has only suspended one candidate and effectively given the green light to the fringe views of the rest of them.

“Reform Scotland do not have credible policies or credible candidates – they are not even in this race.

“The election in May is a direct choice between a third decade of John Swinney and the SNP, or a better future with a Scottish Labour government led by me.”