Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has delivered a searing takedown of Nigel Farage in response to false claims made by the Reform UK leader about him.
On Monday, Farage wrongly stated that Sarwar had said the south Asian community “are going to take over the world” in a 2022 speech.
This came after Reform faced accusations of racism following a Facebook advert which featured clips of Sarwar speaking.
The ad claimed Sarwar was prioritising the Pakistani community. Both the SNP and Scottish Labour have demanded Meta remove the ad.
The row has dominated the build-up to the Hamilton by-election on Thursday, and now Sarwar has hit back at Reform and Farage.
Speaking to PoliticsJOE, the MSP labelled Farage a “pathetic, poisonous little man” who “couldn’t give a damn about Scotland.”
He said: “Nigel Farage is a pathetic, poisonous little man trying to bring his divisive politics into Scotland. This is a guy who doesn’t understand Scotland and couldn’t give a damn about Scotland.”
Sarwar pointed out that Farage had only visited Scotland a handful of times in the last six years, and said his most recent visit had “exposed how pathetic an individual he is.”
After calling out Farage’s “inaccurate and racist assertions” towards him, Sarwar continued: “The man’s a liability, he’s only in it for himself. He will say anything and do anything to get people’s support.
“He wants to play on people’s sense of hopelessness and fears, rather than try and bring our country together. That’s why I’m confident Scotland will reject him and actually confident the UK will reject him as well.”
Speaking in Aberdeen, Farage accused Sarwar of ‘sectarian’ comments, referencing a Holyrood speech he gave in 2020.
He told reporters: “Mr Sarwar has a record of obsessing on this issue. There was the famous speech that he gave in the Scottish Parliament saying, why is the judiciary white? Why are, you know, these leading figures in Scotland white? It was the most extraordinary speech given the statistics and figures here.
“Actually, I think that speech that he gave was sectarian in its very nature – you know, we are the South Asian community, we are going to take over the country and take over the world.”
However, he was quickly called out by a BBC reporter who pointed out that Sarwar didn’t make these comments.
The Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Holyrood by-election will take place on Thursday (June 5), and was called following the death of SNP MSP Christina McKelvie.
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