Farage: Former independence supporter could lead Reform in Scotland

 Nigel Farage has said a former nationalist could become Reform UK’s Scottish leader if they have had a “Damascene” conversion to the Union.

The Reform leader told The Telegraph that his party is “open-minded” about admitting former independence supporters after it was claimed he had wooed a prominent nationalist MSP.

He said former nationalists would be welcomed “if they share our objectives” and argued that some SNP voters disagreed with the party’s “globalist, woke agenda”.

Mr Farage also confirmed Reform would appoint a Scottish “lead figure” ahead of May’s Holyrood election, adding. “I can’t possibly do those [televised] debates, so we have to have somebody.”

Pressed on whether an independence supporter could fill that role, he said: “Human beings are allowed to change their mind, but on an issue as fundamental as that, we’d have to be very convinced that the conversion was genuinely Damascene.”

Senior Reform insiders said welcoming “Yes” voters was necessary to reach people who more concerned about the economy than constitutional issues.

“The Tories are narrowing their base by focusing on independence”, one source said. “People are not interested any more”.

But the Conservatives said Mr Farage’s intervention showed that “Reform can’t be trusted to stand up for Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom.”

The row broke out after Ash Regan, a former minister in Nicola Sturgeon’s government, alleged last week that she had “declined” an approach to join Reform, including “smooth talk” from Mr Farage.

Ms Regan stood unsuccessfully for the SNP leadership when Ms Sturgeon resigned after proposing a giant independence “readiness thermometer” be erected in Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Reform also selected former independence supporter David Kirkwood to fight former Scottish secretary David Mundell in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale in last year’s general election.

Mr Kirkwood, who is Reform’s deputy chairman in Scotland, voted Yes in the 2014 referendum but insisted his view had changed “some years ago.”

However, senior Tory insiders said the admission had helped Mr Mundell hold the seat by dissuading Unionist voters from switching to Reform.

Mr Farage would not be drawn on Reform’s candidates for next May’s election but confirmed he was “open” to people who had voted Yes in the 2014 independence referendum.

Asked about his interaction with Ms Regan, he said: “Well, when I go to parties, I’m often wooing people.

“But look, you know, we’re open-minded that people want to join us if they share our objectives but I’m not going any further than that.

“But I do think there is a section of people who’ve been voting SNP but who don’t actually agree with the globalist, woke agenda of the SNP.”

Although he said it was possible a former independence supporter could become the party’s Scottish leader, he added: “It is unlikely that someone who voted for Scotland to separate would now be a supporter of ours in my view, unlikely.”

Pressed that it was not impossible for a former separatist to get the top job, Mr Farage said: “We might get an Olympic gold medal winner – that’s possible too!”

A Reform source said Ms Regan had not been given any official offer, saying: “I would be amazed if she was to pass our vetting.”

The party is bolster its Scottish operation with several full-time organisers and a press officer. There will be eight regional branches across the country and a new headquarters in Glasgow.

Polls indicate Reform is on course to finish second in the election, with Labour third and the Tories a distant fourth.

But Rachael Hamilton, the Scottish Conservative deputy leader, said that Mr Farage had “made clear he’s relaxed about another independence referendum and is now openly courting people who campaigned to break up our country.”

She said: “Reform’s confused position on the Union shows they’re more interested in publicity than principles.

“While Reform flirt with former Nationalists, the Scottish Conservatives will always stand firm for the Union and against SNP attempts to divide Scotland again.”

Ms Regan, who left the SNP for Alex Salmond’s Alba Party and is now an independent MSP, has aleged an aide was approached by Reform last spring about her joining.

She said she declined the approach as “they are a Unionist party and my political views are very much pro-independence.”

Ms Regan also claimed that Mr Farage made another attempt to recruit her at a party hosted by the Spectator magazine earlier this year.

“I think he said something like ‘history’s moving’ or something, and you should get on board with it,” she said.