Overview
- Nigel Farage headlined a packed rally in Falkirk as Reform UK steps up its Holyrood push, with the party touting new Scottish branding including a bespoke tartan.
- Former Conservative minister Malcolm Offord defected to Reform, becoming its first member of the House of Lords, and said he will relinquish his peerage to run for the Scottish Parliament in May.
- Police Scotland said Farage’s claim of three serious sexual assaults in Falkirk in the past week was inaccurate, stating one man had been charged with two sexual offences.
- A former Reform councillor, Richard Everett, submitted documents to the Metropolitan Police alleging undeclared local spending in Farage’s 2024 Clacton campaign, including an armoured Land Rover and office refurbishments; Reform denies any breach as Labour and the Conservatives urge scrutiny.
- Reform’s push comes after polling placed it in second place in Scotland and a £9m donation from Christopher Harborne boosted its resources, even as former schoolmates’ racism and antisemitism allegations against Farage resurface and are disputed by him.