Reform UK are a real and present danger in Scotland

The National

27-05-2025

On Saturday, a considerable number of far-right protesters took to the streets in cities across Scotland and the UK as part of what they called 'The Great British National Strike'. They rallied in Aberdeen, Dumfries, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Perth, as well as a number of cities south of the Border, in protest against immigration and net-zero policies, among other issues.
In Glasgow, they waved the flag of Israel and the Union flag, as well as banners adorned with slogans including 'free Tommy Robinson'. They were heard chanting 'refugees not welcome here'. The group was met by counter-protesters from a broad coalition of left-wing community groups and political organisations, and the far-right were ultimately outnumbered – but not by much.
The far-right bloc was undeniably substantial, and was an unavoidable presence for anyone wishing to make use of our city-centre shops this bank holiday weekend.
READ MORE: I went to Glasgow's 'Great British National Strike' — here's what I saw
For those who were the target of their hateful ideology – particularly immigrants, Muslims and people of colour – they made the city centre a less safe place to be, and evoked traumatic memories of the violent far-right race riots which plagued the streets of England and the north of Ireland last summer.
For me, the protests weren't the only reminder of far-right rise at the weekend. Also on Saturday, I was in Stonehouse campaigning for the brilliant Ann McGuinness, the Scottish Green Party's candidate in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, triggered by the very sad death of my friend, the SNP MSP Christina McKelvie.
This is the first Scottish Parliament by-election of the current Holyrood term, and the first parliamentary by-election in Scotland since Keir Starmer's right-wing Labour Government took power at Westminster.
It's seen as a test for a struggling SNP, a collapsing Labour Party, and the rise of Reform UK. While Reform are unlikely to win, it's clear they've been dominating the narrative of the campaign. Vox-pops by a number of media outlets asking people how they plan to vote have consistently shown a high rate of support for Reform. But they weren't the winners on the doors I knocked last weekend. By far the winner of the campaign so far, just over a week from polling day, was apathy.
A huge number of people made it clear they had no plans to vote, scunnered by a lack of change over several years and declaring 'they're all the same' when asked about the political parties on offer at this election.
Voters have tried the SNP, they've tried Labour and they've tried the Tories and none of them have been able to demonstrably and radically improve the lives of ordinary people.
That's not to in any way disparage Christina's brilliant work. I know she was a fantastic MSP for the communities she represented. She was a socialist, and she always fought for better for her constituents.
But she was one MSP out of 129. She's exactly proof of why we need more socialists elected to Holyrood across multiple parties.
Nonetheless, voters are clearly fed up. I spoke to a number of Reform voters on the doors in Stonehouse and very few of them would align themselves with the hateful protesters outside Buchanan Galleries just a couple dozen miles up the M74.
Most of them were just people who feel like they've tried every other option and nothing else has worked, so why not give Reform a go?
The thing is, I get it.
People can see their public services crumbling, their communities falling apart. Nigel Farage tells them it's the fault of immigrants, and then Starmer – a Labour Prime Minister – reinforces that idea. When almost the entire British political and media classes keep repeating the lie, it doesn't matter how untrue it is, people will believe it more and more.
It's precisely why Starmer's approach is so dangerous – and so clearly doomed to fail. It's precisely why we need more left-wing, socialist voices who can counter these dangerous ideologies.
We know that the real enemy of the working class arrives by private jet, not by small boat. We know that the rich are getting richer, with millionaires and billionaires hoarding the wealth created by the working people whose wages have stagnated over the past several years.
We know that it's not good enough to just talk the talk – we have to walk the walk, opposing cuts and fighting for the redistribution of wealth to fund our vital public services, making use of the full powers of devolution to tax the rich, and fighting for an independent Scotland where we have the full capability to build a fairer country.
Many of the final seats to be declared on each regional list next year will be closely fought between the Greens and Reform. With both the SNP and Labour moving rightwards (to varying degrees) we need more left-wing voices in the Scottish Parliament who can counter the far-right and their hate.
READ MORE: SNP figures believe Nigel Farage's Reform UK will come second in key by-election
On the doors in Stonehouse last weekend, there were multiple apathetic voters who were leaning towards voting Reform, or just staying at home. There were multiple who, after a conversation with our activists, will now be strongly considering voting Green.
There's little to no overlap in the policy platforms of our two parties, and there's not a huge number of Reform/Green swing voters.
But where Reform present themselves as anti-establishment (while being backed by billionaires and city bankers), Greens genuinely are against a status quo establishment which makes the rich richer and offers nothing for ordinary people. Our task, it's clear, is now to get that message out.