JOHN Swinney has said Scots cannot “sit back” and assume the politics of the far right will not take hold in this country, as he prepares for a summit to tackle the issue this week.
The First Minister said he wanted to “strengthen our democratic society” at the meeting, which is set to take place in Glasgow on Wednesday.
He has invited other political parties, faith leaders and community groups to the event discussing the rise of the far-right, in which he includes Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
In his first of a series of regular columns for the Daily Record, Swinney said: “It feels like society is becoming ever more polarised and the world around us ever more uncertain.
“There have always been those who seek to exploit such fear and anxiety to sow hatred, to demonise minority groups, to spread disinformation and even undermine democracy itself.
“None of this anxiety is unique to Scotland. The far right is on the rise across the West – we must not sit back and assume it cannot happen here.”
Wednesday's summit is set to be centred around four key themes.
They include combating inequality and discrimination; tackling disinformation while ensuring a trusted media environment; enhancing trust in politics and boosting the accountability of political leaders and democratic institutions; strengthening vigilance to electoral interference and encouraging more active democratic participation.
The SNP leader said he called the event to “protect and strengthen the democratic values that underpin who we are as Scots”.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay has said he will not attend the event, describing it as a “talking shop” and suggesting the First Minister should hold a summit on organised crime instead.
Reform UK councillor Thomas Kerr previously called the summit a “political stunt”, saying it showed “just how worried the political establishment are that Reform UK is here to stay”.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland on Sunday, Kerr then later said he would have liked to have had an invite to the summit and claimed he was “repulsed” by the far-right.
It comes just days after Swinney said that there is a “high likelihood” that Farage would become prime minister.
Swinney also said there will be no deals “under any circumstances” between the SNP and Reform UK, after Nigel Farage backed the SNP over Labour in next year's elections.
