Nigel Farage has been branded “one of the most disastrous politicians” and “extraordinarily damaging” by the SNP after the Reform UK leader outlined his plans to curb migration.
SNP MP Stephen Gethins hit out after Reform unveiled plans to deport up to 600,000 asylum seekers in its first year in power if it wins the next general election.
Mr Gethins, the SNP foreign affairs spokesman at Westminster, questioned parts of the policy – which could see a future UK government potentially work with the Taliban to send people back to Afghanistan, with Britain also leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
He argued that Brexit – which Mr Farage campaigned for – had “pushed up the small boats crisis” in the UK, as it means those seeking asylum are forced to do so in the first country they arrive in.
Hitting out at the Reform UK leader, Mr Gethins told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “He is the architect, along with people like Boris Johnson, and others of the small boats crisis.
“Now he wants to remove us from the European Convention on Human Rights, which was the convention introduced at the end of the Second World War to give us some of the most basic rights, like prohibition of torture and right to life and all these other basic things we take for granted.”
Reform on Tuesday pledged to scale up detention capacity for asylum seekers to 24,000 and secure deals with countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea and Iran to return migrants.
However Mr Farage failed to answer when asked how much he would be prepared to pay Iran and the Taliban to take deportees back.
Mr Gethins insisted such policies show Mr Farage “is an extraordinarily damaging politician”.
The Arbroath and Broughty Ferry MP continued his attack on the Reform leader, saying: “On Afghanistan, he now wants to do deals with the Taliban. Will that mean people who were abandoned in Kabul, who served alongside the British Army… are they now going to be sent back to the Taliban, and are we going to be paying for the Taliban for the privilege of sending these people back?
“I think most people can see that doing a deal with the Taliban to send back women, human rights advocates and others who have campaigned against that brutal regime is unrealistic.
“I don’t think it is realistic, and I think any basic reading of this is unrealistic.
“That is why Nigel Farage is one of the most disastrous politicians. He is one of the most consequential, but not in a good way.”
But Reform councillor Ross Lambie defended the party’s immigration policy, saying: “My view on it and Reform’s view on it is that largely, if not all, of those people crossing the Channel are bogus asylum seekers who are, at best they’re here to gain the benefits system of this country.
“At worst, they could be here to do us harm.”
He told BBC Radio Scotland that those coming to the UK in small boats are “not people fleeing” oppressive regimes and are “obscuring their identity”.
Mr Lambie added this involves either “hiding their past” or “actually hiding their true country of origin”.
His comments came after a poll, by the David Hume Institute and Diffley Partnership, found 21% of Scots think immigration is one of the top three issues in the country, up from 16% in May and just 4% in May 2023.
It means immigration is now seen as the third biggest priority for the country, with only health and the cost-of-living crisis regarded as more important by voters.
