Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been embroiled in a row over a ‘racist’ attack advert put out by his party against Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar
Nigel Farage’s false claims about Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar have been brutally called out by a journalist during a live press conference.
The Reform UK leader has been embroiled in a row over an attack advert put out by his party against Mr Sarwar. The ad, which has been branded “racist”, claimed Mr Sarwar said he would “prioritise” Pakistani people in a 2020 speech – when he had actually said the Pakistani community should be represented in politics.
Speaking to reporters in Aberdeen today, Mr Farage also took aim at Mr Sarwar highlighting a lack of diversity in top positions in Scotland in separate comments in 2020. The Labour politician noted that key figures across Scotland, from the judiciary, to council chief executives to head teachers, were all white.
Mr Farage claimed Mr Sarwar had “a record of obsessing on this issue” and said his speech “was sectarian in its very nature”, adding: “We are the South Asian community. We are going to take over the country and take over the world.”
But a journalist sitting at the press conference hit back at the outspoken politician, calling out to him on the stage: “He didn’t say any such thing.”
READ MORE: Nigel Farage savaged as ‘poisonous man’ by MP after defending ‘racist’ Reform UK advert
Brazen Mr Farage replied: “Well he did actually, very, very clearly.” To which the journalist said: “He did not say that the South Asian community would take over the country or the world, nor did did he use the word prioritise. I hear what you’re saying but why can’t you just accept what he literally said and not mischaracterise what he said?”
The Reform leader said: “We believe what he said was a form of sectarian policies and we don’t like it one little bit.”
Mr Farage’s visit to Scotland comes ahead of Thursday’s Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election. The Clacton MP said he was confident his party would place at least third, but if Reform won it would be the “biggest earthquake Scottish politics has ever seen”.
Asked about the attack ad having dominated the campaign, Mr Farage insisted Reform UK “don’t talk about race at all”. He said: “We think everybody should be treated equally. We object, very strongly, to the segmentation of people into different types.”
Labour and the SNP condemned the ad as “racist” and called for Meta to remove it from Facebook. Mr Sarwar last week branded Mr Farage a “poisonous man who doesn’t understand Scotland”.
Mr Sarwar, who was born in Glasgow to Pakistani Muslim parents, today spoke of the “guilt” he feels as his children have to experience attacks against him.
Mr Sarwar grew up as the son of a politician – the UK’s first Muslim MP Muhammad Sarwar – and told journalists on Monday he had grown to normalise the racist attacks levelled against his family.
Asked how his family deals with racist attacks levelled at him throughout his career, the Scottish Labour leader told journalists in Hamilton: “To be honest, it only motivates me and drives me, and makes me want to work even harder.
“I think what gives me a bit more perspective is there were similar kinds of attacks, not identical, but similar kinds of attacks when I was growing up and my father was trying to be a politician, when he was trying to get elected as the country’s first Muslim MP, and there was threats, there was abuse, there was violence at that time.
“I think that probably has added resilience for me, and therefore it’s water off a duck’s back. I think the challenge is, where I feel a wee bit of guilt and where I feel a wee bit of trepidation, is the impact it has on my kids.”
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