Richard Tice announces two further Scottish councillor defections to Reform

Richard Tice has announced two further Scottish councillors have defected to Reform UK.  

The two councillors, Ross Lambie of South Lanarkshire Council and John Gray of Renfrewshire Council, both defected from the Scottish Conservatives.  

The deputy leader of Nigel Farage's party made the announcement during a visit to the Val D’oro chip shop in Glasgow.  

Gray said his defection is a result of “years of disappointment with the Conservative party”. 

He said: “The SNP, the Conservatives, and Labour have all had their shot, and all they're doing is bouncing from crisis to crisis, leaving Britain, Scotland and Renfrewshire in a worse state each time.” 

Lambie said his decision had been driven by “legacy parties”, referring to the Conservatives, Labour, and the SNP, letting down the people of South Lanarkshire “time and time again”. 

Yesterday it was understood that Falkirk Council member Claire Mackie Brown – a former Conservative – had joined the party after her affiliation on the local authority website was changed from Independent to Reform UK. This has now been changed back to Independent, while there has been no confirmation from the party.      

Scotland’s Reform spokesperson said the party had a “very high bar for defectors” and it was “only accepting those who are very capable, and they must genuinely believe in Reform”.

During his visit, Tice claimed Reform UK had “almost got as many members now in Scotland as the Labour Party”. He said people were backing his party because “existing mainstream politicians have let them down”.

Asked by the press about First Minister John Swinney announcing a summit last week to counter the growth of the far-right - in which he included Reform - Tice said this showed the SNP was “frightened” of his party.

He said: “It shows how frightened John Swinney is that they've called this summit. I mean, at the end of the day, competition's a good thing and we're just going to put forward our policies and it'll be up to the Scottish people.

“But there's a reason why we're getting so many more members. There's a reason why we're going up in the polls. And that's because people realise that we can make people better off and it's a simple as that. I think that's a good thing.

“If they throw around labels and smears, it's pathetic and I think people can see through it. It's nonsense.”

Since October last year, eight Scottish councillors have joined Reform UK, and it says it expects the trend of defections will continue to grow.  

Thomas Kerr, who previously led the Tory group on Glasgow City Council, is the biggest name to make the change so far. He told Holyrood he had been branded a “racist” and a “fascist” since defecting.