ALEX Cole-Hamilton has said he has "concerns" about plans to lock Reform out of a cross-party summit to counter the far-right.
The Scottish LibDem leader said he disagreed with “no platforming” people.
First Minister John Swinney has called a conference of party leaders and civil society at the end of April in a bid to “lock out” Nigel Farage’s party.
Speaking ahead of his party’s conference in Inverness on Friday, Cole-Hamilton told BBC Radio Scotland he had “deep concerns about anything which aims to stifle a democratically elected voice”.
“I believe you defeat arguments you disagree with in open ground,”
“You don’t try and shut them out, you don’t try and lock them in a dungeon somewhere, because that will martyr them, that will make them probably more popular, give them more air time and their supporters more grist to their mills.”
The MSP said he would engage with the First Minister “in good faith”, but added: “I don’t think it’s right that we should no-platform people.
“I think if people are democratically elected, they have every right to take their seat and I will defeat their arguments in open ground, but I am anxious about shutting the door on political parties.”
Swinney previously said he was convening the summit one year ahead of the Holyrood election for parties and civil society to “unite against the rise of the far right”.
Cole-Hamilton refused to put a number on the seats his party would have to win in next year’s Holyrood election, but this week it was announced the LibDems would make the Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch seat held by Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes a key target.
Forbes has a majority of nearly 16,000.
The LibDem leader was positive about the chances of ousting the DFM, pointing to the party’s MP Angus MacDonald who won in last year’s General Election, whose seat overlaps with that of Forbes.
He was also quizzed on the future of former Tory MSP Jamie Greene, who announced on Thursday he was quitting the party, saying he has “a lot of time and huge respect” for him, but did not answer when asked if Greene would be a surprise guest at this weekend’s conference.
