UKIP to target SNP voters, says Nigel Farage

UKIP leader Nigel Farage has said the party aims to attract Eurosceptic SNP voters on the regional list vote in the Scottish Parliament election.

Speaking at the launch of the party’s manifesto for the Holyrood election, he said the “very, very few” Eurosceptic MSPs among other parties were not representative of Scotland’s population.

“I still believe that once we have a proper debate in Scotland about what membership of the European Union actually means for the United Kingdom and for Scotland, there is a significant number of that SNP vote who could, in the referendum, vote to leave.

“If you believe in independence, at any level, even if you believe in Scotland being separated from the United Kingdom, the first step to that meaning anything is leaving the European Union,” he said.

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The argument for leaving the EU had seen “a breakthrough” when the first UKIP MEPs were elected in 1999, Farage argued, and the same rise in profile could follow the election of UKIP MSPs in May.

The party is standing on every regional list, and UKIP Scotland regional organiser Kevin Newton said the party can win "half a dozen" MSPs with “the most detailed manifesto in our history”.

Policies include phasing in a new 30p middle income tax band, lowering business rates, reinstating grammar schools and repeal of the named person scheme.

Scotland leader David Coburn MEP, who arrived to the tune of 'Scotland the Brave' played on an accordion, said: “The objective of our manifesto is to encourage Scots to stay in Scotland, build their businesses here and employ their fellow Scots.”

Coburn attacked the tax plans of other parties. “People should not have to pay for the privilege of living in Scotland,” he said.

As part of a crackdown on public sector high-earners, the party would abolish the Scottish Government’s involvement in external affairs, including the relevant ministerial portfolios, Coburn added.

Although Newton said the party “accepts the outcome of the Smith Commission”, the manifesto pledges to “draw a red line” at the transfer of any further powers from Westminster.

And Farage said Scotland’s budget from Westminster would have to be cut alongside other UK ministry budgets.

“I suspect two years down the road every single government budget in this country is going to have a problem,” he said.