Farage and Sarwar row rages on as Reform leader visits Scotland

A row between Nigel Farage and Anas Sarwar continued to rage while the Reform UK party leader visited Scotland on Monday.

Farage and Scottish Labour party leader once again hit out at one another just days before the Hamilton, Larkhall, and Stonehouse by-election on Thursday.

Farage doubled down on his attacks on Sarwar during his visit, accusing him of having a “record of obsession” on the issue of race.

His comments come amidst an ongoing racism row over a Reform UK party attack ad, which Sarwar called “blatant racism” that questioned his “identity, loyalty and belonging”.

The ad, which started running on social media ahead of the by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, claims that Sarwar will “prioritise the Pakistani community”.

The clip shows Sarwar delivering a speech in 2022 in which he urged more people from Pakistani and South Asian backgrounds to get involved in politics.

In the video, Sarwar said: “Pakistan needs to be represented in every mainstream political party in Scotland and across the UK.”

The clip is edited, and Sarwar continues: “The days where the South Asian community gets to lead political parties and gets to lead countries are now upon us.”

Defending the Facebook video last week, Farage said: “So it was Anas Sarwar that introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics. Making it perfectly clear his priority was to a certain section of the community.

As ominous music plays, a message from Reform appears on screen.

“Only Reform UK will prioritise the people of Hamilton, Larkhall, and Stonehouse,” the message states.

First Minister John Swinney has also called the ad racist and urged the people of Scotland against “importing the divisive politics of Nigel Farage”.

Sarwar has hit back at Farage, calling him the “chief clown” of the Reform “circus”.

Speaking to a group of Labour supporters in Hamilton on Monday morning ahead of Farage’s visit, Sarwar said: “This is only the third time he’s been here in six years.

He added: “The circus will arrive today with him as the chief clown, and the circus will move away with no idea about how to improve people’s lives here. Ultimately, we will only improve people’s lives if we change the government here in Scotland, and that starts by electing Davy Russell in this by-election.”