Nigel Farage has appointed a former Tory UK government minister as his party’s new Scottish leader.
The Reform UK leader travelled to Scotland to announce – as had been widely expected – that Malcolm Offord has been given the job.
Lord Offord defected to the party in December.
Following the announcement, he said it was a “great honour to be named today as the new leader of Reform UK Scotland.
“I shall be campaigning hard between now and May 7, to communicate a positive vision of how we can all work together to make Scotland the most successful part of the UK in the next ten years.
“We represent ordinary, decent, hardworking Scots who are fed up with mid-table mediocrity in Holyrood. Which is why we will be fielding Reform candidates in all 73 constituencies with one sole objective: to get Scotland back to the top of the table.”
“Make no mistake, this is now a two-horse race between Reform and the SNP,” he said, adding that he saw the upcoming election as a chance for Scots “to finally get rid of this rotten SNP government, who have had plenty of time to deliver prosperity for Scotland and have failed.”
“Scotland needs Reform and Reform has arrived in Scotland.”
Continuing at the conference, Farage said: “I think we can surprise ourselves with just how many votes we manage to garner in these elections.”
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“A huge chunk of the Scottish electorate are looking for something different. And they’re tired of the decline this country has seen under SNP government.”
The party held off on appointing a leader until just months before the election in May, despite previous assurances from deputy leader Richard Tice one would not be selected until after votes were cast.
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