Reform leader in Scotland says independence vote should be postponed for 10 years

The new leader of Reform UK in Scotland said that a potential Scottish independence referendum should be postponed for at least 10 years.

Lord Malcolm Offord defected from the Conservatives in December and said that the party is “writing a manifesto for devolved matters”.

Speaking to the BBC Scotland Sunday Show, he said Nigel Farage “would not be dictating the policies” and that 73 constituencies would have candidates standing from professional backgrounds including education, law and medicine – rather than “career politicians”.

Mr Offord said he was appointed by Mr Farage, but it is a “relatively new party up here” and that the next four months would be spent preparing for the Holyrood election in May 2026.

He said the economy “had to be the focus for the next 10 years”, and “what has happened in past 10 years or so is we have created a welfare economy”, and that Reform UK was “not here to change that”.

Mr Offord said that tax revenue needed to change to cover welfare spending, and added: “I don’t think anybody wants to be a scrounger. We’ve got 3.5 million people of working age in Scotland, one million don’t work. We have got to find a way to help those folks work.”

Mr Offord said: “People are being taxed too much here. At the moment the people with broad shoulders are actually shrugging their shoulders… they are being squeezed too far. We all want all the welfare but lets grow the economy.”

The former businessman said he would get “every single legal disclosure” regarding his own wealth “complied with” and said he had always paid tax.

Mr Offord said the economy needed to be boosted, and said “of course” the NHS should be free at the point of use, quoting the founder, Lord Bevan during the interview.

He said: “There is no plan to charge for seeing a GP.”

Referendum 

Mr Offord said that John Swinney’s calls for an independence referendum if the SNP achieved a majority was a “doomloop”.

Asked if that meant he would say no to any call for a referendum, Lord Offord replied: “No, that’s not constitutional.”

He said: “That is enough to run an administration but not break up the country… What I can tell you is going round the doorsteps, there is no consensus from Scottish people. They are sick and tired of the doomloop.

“Can we just park it. I think it needs two terms of Holyrood to focus on the day job. That’s 10 years. Can we please fix our economy, get our growth back, get our revenues up, come back for this later – but not now.”

'Offering nothing' 

Andrew Bowie MP, from the Scottish Conservatives, said: “This is yet more evidence of why the SNP are in love with Reform. Not only will voting for Nigel Farage’s party help the nationalists get a Holyrood majority, any MSPs he does get elected will be meek on the union and step aside for John Swinney’s indyref carnival that never leaves town.

“They might even join up — Reform are actually likely to field pro-independence candidates, and Farage is relaxed about the prospect of another five years of SNP control.

“That’s all he will achieve by splitting the pro-union vote while offering nothing in return.”

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.