Rise of Reform underlines urgency of fairer, greener independent Scotland
The rise of Nigel Farage’s Reform Party underlines the urgent need for a fairer, greener and independent Scotland, says Scottish Green Co-leader Patrick Harvie.
With a recent poll from Find Out Now suggesting Reform Party could be on course to be the largest party in Westminster, Mr Harvie has said it is vital that the new Labour government delivers the bold change the country needs.
Mr Harvie said:
“Reform and the politics they represent are a danger to Scotland. Whether they have called themselves UKIP, the Brexit Party or Reform, we know what they represent: prejudice, division and environmental vandalism.
“We cannot forget the central role that they played in delivering the disaster that is Brexit, which has increased costs, and curtailed people's freedom to live and travel abroad. It is a toxic party. It does not offer any solutions. It would only make things worse for our communities and our environment.
“Scotland can and must do so much better than this. We need change, but it has to be rooted in building a fairer and better country, not scapegoating and empty slogans from a cynical millionaire-backed party that offers nothing.
“Their rise has also been fuelled by a cruel and incompetent Labour government that promised change but has doubled down on the failed policies of the Tories and plunged pensioners into fuel poverty.”
Mr Harvie added:
“Despite the severe limits of devolution we have always worked to build a fairer and greener Scotland that invests in services and supports families through policies like the Scottish Child Payment, free bus travel for young people and a real living wage for public sector workers.
“There is so much more that we can and must do, but none of that would be helped by a Westminster government that is grounded in the reactionary politics of Reform or a Tory Party that is determined to lurch even further to the right.
“It is more vital than ever that we take our future into our own hands, take bold action, rejoin the European Union and deliver the change that is so badly needed for people and planet.”