Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has described Reform UK politicians as “unedifying people” who he hopes are “hammered” at next month’s election.
The war of words between Mr Sarwar and those in Malcolm Offord’s party continued on Tuesday as the Scottish Labour leader stood by claims that a Reform candidate had called his leader “useless” and a senior councillor “a weasel”.
Graham Simpson denied making such comments, and claimed he had been approached by Mr Sarwar three times to work together to beat the SNP.
The row was sparked during a televised debate last week when Lord Offord said Mr Sarwar had made the offer of working together.
The Scottish Labour leader has consistently rejected claims of seeking to work with Reform UK.
Speaking during a visit to a college in Glasgow on Tuesday, Mr Sarwar hit out at Reform.
“These are people who only want to divide us, who only want to create noise, when they are fighting like ferrets in a sack amongst themselves,” he said.
“The only thing Reform can do in this election campaign is help the SNP stay in power – a vote for Reform helps the SNP, I want to beat the SNP.
“I want to change Scotland and I want Scotland to utterly reject the poison of Reform. I want Reform to get hammered in this election campaign.”
Asked if the exposure of apparently private conversations is “unedifying” and putting the public off engaging with politics ahead of the May 7 election, Mr Sarwar said: “These are unedifying people.”
Speaking to the Press Association on Tuesday, Mr Simpson described the situation as “all a bit daft”.
“It’s bizarre and it’s disappointing, and I wish he hadn’t done it,” he said.
“I actually wish he’d pick up the phone and apologise, and I would accept that, but I don’t suppose he’s going to. He seems to be doubling down on everything he’s saying and it’s all a bit daft.
“This really needs to end and we need to talk about how we improve Scotland and how we make Scotland the most successful part of the United Kingdom.
“If Anas shares the view of Reform, because that’s our ambition, then maybe, maybe we can talk to him, but he really needs to calm down and sort himself out.”
The former Tory – who was Reform’s only MSP in the last session at Holyrood after his defection last year – also said he would not like to see an advert from his party about Mr Sarwar which was described as “racist” by critics re-run.
The video – used in the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election last year – accused the Glasgow candidate of seeking to prioritise Scotland’s Pakistani community and was widely slated by opposition politicians, but senior figures, including Reform candidate Thomas Kerr, have suggested it could be deployed again.
Mr Simpson said: “I wasn’t happy at the time, although I wasn’t in Reform, I was in the Conservative Party at the time.
“What I saw, I didn’t look at it in a great detail, what I saw didn’t look right to me and I don’t like personal attacks during campaigns, which is why what Anas has been doing has been so disappointing.”
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