Reform refuses to rule out reusing Sarwar advert row

Labour described the comments as "desperate".

Reform faced widespread criticism for its portrayal of the Scottish Labour leader during last year’s Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.

The Facebook and Instagram advert used heavily edited footage from a 2022 speech by Mr Sarwar in which he called for greater South Asian representation in politics.

The clip — which was viewed more than 800,000 times — included a caption claiming Mr Sarwar wanted to “prioritise the Pakistani community”, a phrase he did not use.

Both Scottish Labour and the SNP described the video as racist and called on Meta, the company that owns the social media platforms, to remove it.

Mr Kerr spoke to reporters at a press conference alongside Reform UK Scotland leader Lord Malcolm Offord in Glasgow’s east end.

The pair posed in front of two new advert vans showing pictures of migrants on a boat with large red writing above them reading: “Scotland is at breaking point.”

The words below said: “Glasgow has become the illegal migrant capital of the UK. Only Reform Scotland will stop this.”

During the press conference, at Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Lord Offord said a Reform Scottish government would use Holyrood’s powers to clamp down on migration, which is reserved, through areas including housing policy, which are devolved.

The party was asked whether it would rerun its attack against the Scottish Labour leader, who was born in Glasgow to Pakistani parents.

Mr Kerr said he could not rule it out, telling reporters: “This is a man who is hoping to be first minister at Holyrood for all of Scotland and I think it’s right that he is held accountable for statements he has made.

“The sort of campaign that Reform will run is one to make sure that this man [Mr Offord] sitting next to me is in Bute House.

“We’re not interested in second place, we’re not interested in propping up Anas Sarwar or John Swinney, we want to make sure that this guy sitting next to me wins and is in Bute House to get the real fundamental change this country needs.”

Pressed again on whether Reform could re-use the video, Mr Kerr said: “I am not going to rule out using Anas Sarwar’s words against him because Anas Sarwar is a grown-up politician who deserves to be scrutinised like anyone else in this country.

“He is hoping to be first minister. Every single statement that man has made should be under massive amounts of scrutiny.

“That’s what we’ve done in Hamilton and that’s what we’ll continue to do in this campaign.”

Nigel Farage previously doubled down on the ad, playing it at an event in London last year and accusing Mr Sarwar of having “introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics”.

Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Dame Jackie Baillie said “Reform look more and more desperate by the day, and it’s no wonder after the shambolic start to their campaign.

“These comments are a reminder of why Scottish Labour will never do any deal or coalition with Reform – despite the SNP’s grubby and dishonest campaign.

“While Reform and the SNP are distracted by their own chaos and their own fringe obsessions, Scottish Labour is focused on getting the basics right and delivering for Scotland."

Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for Inverclyde Jamie Greene said: “Racism is racism, no matter how hard you try to spin it, and the good people of Scotland are better than this nonsense politics.

“I’m sure there are many sensible people out there considering voting Reform who are doing so because they are frustrated with the way that the SNP, Conservatives and Labour have let them down over the years.

“But I would urge them to consider how weird and childish all Reform’s politicians seem to be.”

During the event, Mr Offord was asked if he would work with Labour to put Mr Sarwar into Bute House.

It followed Graham Simpson, Reform’s only MSP, saying that “if the numbers are there that we can get the SNP out, we have to at least try”.

Asked whether he agreed with the comments, Mr Offord said: “Graham is the only MSP that we have in our current group.

“He might know the machinations of Holyrood, we aren’t very experienced in the machinations of Holyrood. We need to promulgate our agenda for Reform in Scotland, and we couldn’t work with anybody who didn’t share that agenda. So, let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.”