Nigel Farage has said he wants Reform UK to be “strong enough” in Scotland to “get rid of the SNP”, as he announced the first Conservative MSP to defect to his party.
Mr Farage welcomed Graham Simpson to his party during a press conference in Uphall, West Lothian, on Wednesday.
The Central Scotland MSP is the first Tory at Holyrood to defect to Reform and its only current politician at Holyrood.
But he is the third MSP to quit the Tories in recent months, following Jamie Greene – who is now a Liberal Democrat – and Jeremy Balfour, who sits as an independent.
Mr Farage told reporters that Tory support in Scotland has “fallen to derisory levels” and the party will soon “cease to be a political force”.
Mr Simpson, who is the most high-profile defection to Reform in Scotland yet, said it was an “enormous wrench” to leave the Tories, but he warned the “political class” is not serving the people of Scotland.
Speaking to journalists after the announcement, Mr Farage denied Reform – which has been filling up with defected Tories – is essentially a new Conservative Party.
He said he will take the fight to the SNP and try to remove the nationalists from office in the Holyrood election next year.
Mr Farage said: “What would a powerful position be after the May elections next year?
“[It] would be to be in a position where we were strong enough to get rid of an SNP Government.
“Let’s see how the scores at the doors work.”
Mr Farage suggested he could cut a deal with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar to keep the SNP out of power.
“Mr Sarwar and I don’t necessarily get on that well, but it’s remarkable after an election what mathematics can do,” he said.
“But anyway, why would Labour beat us next May? We are going to beat them. So there you go.”
His comments appear to contradict remarks earlier this year in which he ruled out a deal with Labour.
He said at the time: “We’re not doing a deal with Labour. No, we’re just not going to do it.”
Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay claimed Mr Farage was saying at the time he would rather have the SNP in power than a unionist party.
Mr Simpson, who sat beside Mr Farage at the conference, said his new party should not be talking about deals at the moment.
But he added: “My position is, and Reform’s position is, here in Scotland we need to get rid of the SNP and by voting Reform in great numbers, you’ve got a greater chance of doing that.”
He is Reform’s first direct defection at Holyrood and its second-ever MSP. Michelle Ballantyne was briefly the party’s first MSP in 2021 after having sat as an independent, although she was elected as a Tory to the Parliament. She later lost her seat at the 2021 election.
The Scottish Tories have seen more than a dozen councillors around Scotland defect to Reform.
Mr Farage said the Conservatives have “declining credibility” in Scotland, pointing to the party’s poor performance in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election in which Reform came a close third.
“In other elections we’ve seen around Scotland, and by-elections around Scotland, the Conservative vote has fallen to derisory levels,” he said.
“I think that next May the Scottish Conservatives will do so badly in those Scottish elections that they will cease to be a political force in Scotland.
“I think we may see the same result happening in Wales, parts of northern England and elsewhere.”
A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: “Reform are a gift to the SNP, not a challenger to them.
“Nigel Farage has said he’s content with another five years of SNP Government, his party fields candidates who back Scottish independence, and every polling expert says a vote for Reform only helps John Swinney.
“We’ve defied negative predictions before, and we’ll do so again.”
The SNP’s Mairi McAllan said: “Nigel Farage is the ultimate symbol of Westminster failure.
“He has the same failed, Thatcherite economic policies that have stagnated the UK economy and held back living standards – and he has just taken the same ugly, anti-immigrant rhetoric that has been allowed to fester at Westminster for decades to new extremes.”
