THERE is a “high likelihood” that Nigel Farage will be the next UK prime minister, John Swinney has warned.
The SNP leader said he was “very, very worried” about the prospect of the Reform UK leader taking power at Westminster.
Reform UK has been surging in the polls in the past year, leading Labour and the Tories in surveys by multiple polling firms. A number of projections have suggested the party could win multiple seats at Holyrood next year, with a recent poll for The National suggesting they could win eight MSPs.
Speaking to the Daily Record’s Planet Holyrood podcast, Swinney lamented the success of Reform UK across the country, saying there is potential for its leader Farage to win the keys to 10 Downing Street at the next General Election.
“I think there’s a high likelihood that could be the case, yes,” he said. “I worry about that very, very much.
“I think the values of the United Kingdom would be changed in an incredibly damaging way and the values of the United Kingdom would change fundamentally and how it’s perceived around the world.
“That would be bad for all of us.”
Swinney also said Reform could be contenders in the upcoming Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse Holyrood by-election prompted by the death of Scottish minister Christina McKelvie.
He said: “They could be, it’s early days in the by-election.
“But I’ve got a job of work to do to say to the people in Scotland that they’ve got to see through Farage.
“Because Farage is only using Scotland as a platform to spread the type of hate and division that he spreads in other parts of the United Kingdom.”
A poll for The National conducted at the turn of the year found that 60% of Scots would vote for independence should Farage be prime minister.
Elsewhere on the podcast, the First Minister accepted that the SNP are not the favourite to retain McKelvie’s seat in the June by-election.
The contest is expected to provide a snapshot of the political landscape in Scotland ahead of the Holyrood election next year, with polls showing a rapid decline in the fortunes of Labour since taking power at Westminster last summer and a potential Reform surge.
Acknowledging the poll will take place in “really sad circumstances”, the First Minister said: “I don’t think by any stretch of the imagination is the by-election outcome clear.
“We’ll have to work incredibly hard in the SNP to retain the constituency.”
The SNP, he said, has “faced a tough time” in recent years, alluding to the shifts which saw the party change leader three times in just 15 months and the police investigation into its finances which has seen former chief executive Peter Murrell appear in court charged with alleged embezzlement of party funds.
There was also the defeat in last year’s General Election, which saw the party fall from 48 MPs in 2019 to just nine in the first few weeks of Swinney’s leadership.
“I’ve got to rebuild the Scottish National Party, I’m doing that step-by-step,” the First Minister added.
“But it’s important that we all recognise the scale of the challenge that we face in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.”
The party announced this week that South Lanarkshire councillor Katy Loudon would be vying for the seat after two failed attempts at the Rutherglen and Hamilton West Westminster constituency.
Scottish Labour will put up Davy Russell for the seat, a former business associate of Anas Sarwar’s brother.
