Labour leader Anas Sarwar, right, says Reform UK Lord Offord’s list of election candidates are ‘a bunch of chancers’
by Bill Heaney
Scotland will reject Malcolm Offord and his “band of chancers” come the Holyrood election on May 7, Anas Sarwar has said as Reform publishes its regional list candidates.
Reform Scotland’s list candidates include a number of people who have been embroiled in scandal, including:
- Senga Beresford, who posted on social media saying she wanted all Muslims to be deported from the UK and backed Tommy Robinson.
- Linda Holt, a former scandal-hit Tory Councillor who called Humza Yousaf an “Islamist moron” who wanted a “Holy war”.
- Rachael Wright, who spread false rumours online about a Perthshire school.
- Jo Hart, who branded the Royal Family “benefit scroungers” and posted saying “f*** the Royals”.
- And then there’s the maybe man – Andy White, the disgraced former Labour leader of West Dunbartonshire Council, whose name was on the list until we were told it wasn’t the man in question who would be standing in Clydebank on May 7.
Had it been the Andy White we all know and were extremely wary of because of his Machiavellian way of running the council back then, not to mention his bullying ways to boot, then he would have been putting himself up for Reform against his sister, Marie McNair, who is the SNP candidate for the Clydebank seat on May 7.
Marie is a former SNP councillor in West Dunbartonshire who stayed there until she was elected to replace Labour’s Craig Edward, 34, until his seedy lifestyle was exposed in 2024 when he became an independent councillor.
Craig Edward was jailed for two years at Dumbarton Sheriff Court for being in possession of hundreds of pornographic images of children.
Many of the selected Reform candidates have been election losers in the past, and Malcolm Offord previously admitted that around 40 per cent of the candidates were previously members of the Conservative Party..
Scottish Labour said the quality of Reform’s candidate in this election was an “insult” to the people of Scotland.
Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar said “Reform Scotland’s car-crash campaign continues as Lord Offord tries to find another way to foist his scandal-hit candidates on Scotland.
“This band of chancers includes racist keyboard warriors and self-promoting Tory rejects.
“Reform Scotland will take anyone they can get and Lord Offord is too spineless to raise the bar for his candidates.
“It’s no wonder Malcolm Offord can’t stand up to his candidates given his own track record of crude and offensive homophobic jokes.
“It is clearer than ever that Reform Scotland is not serious about this election – it is just creating noise and providing the SNP with cover.
“Only one party can get this of this tired and incompetent SNP government and fix their mess.
“It is a straight choice between a third decade of John Swinney and the SNP or a Scottish Labour government led by me.”
- The Democrat has asked for a photograph and details of the Andy White who was listed by them as their candidate for Clydebank but none has been forthcoming. Indeed they hung up the telephone.