“Storm clouds are gathering. We can all see them.” No, not Winston Churchill on the rise of the Nazis in Europe, but John Swinney on the march of the “far right” in Scotland. Today, the First Minister will host a “mobilisation of mainstream Scotland” against Reform and its “racist” leader, Nigel Farage, who he says, in all seriousness, could be “the next Prime Minister.”
The man the Scottish left loves to hate will no doubt be at a bar toasting Swinney’s prediction
Swinney’s breathless scaremongering is because Reform is making progress in his own backyard. A Survation poll places them at 17 per cent in the constituency vote for the 2026 Scottish parliament elections, 5 per cent ahead of the Scottish Conservatives. If that were to be replicated on polling day, Farage’s party could have 19 seats in Holyrood, two more than the Conservatives.
Reform is taking votes from Labour and the SNP too, which is something “civic” Scotland finds profoundly disturbing.
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