STEPHEN Flynn has criticised the UK media for its “wall-to-wall coverage” of Nigel Farage’s run for parliament, arguing it risks letting right-wing voices dominate the narrative despite not having voters’ support.
The SNP Westminster leader, who is running for re-election in Aberdeen South, criticised the media’s handling of the Reform UK leader’s candidacy while speaking to the Politics Joe news site.
It came after Farage announced he would stand for election in Clacton in Essex, a constituency which former MP Douglas Carswell twice won for Ukip, his former party.
Asked if Reform, Farage’s new party, could have a big impact on the General Election, Flynn said it may in England but would not have an impact north of the Border.
He went on: “It's seriously worrying, because it's almost as if the wall-to-wall coverage which has basically existed for the last 48 hours over this guy who's lost, what, seven elections and who has views which are pretty repugnant, is just bizarre.
“His brand of politics and the way he treats people and the way he speaks about people is not something that I will ever be able to understand. I think it's quite dangerous.
“I think we run the risk in the UK of very much tracking that route which the sort of centre-right went down in the States with [Donald] Trump. Someone like Farage would love that.
“Liz Truss has obviously gone down that route, [Suella] Braverman has gone down that route, [Robert] Jenrick as well. They're obviously making an educated guess that this is something that's going to give them a bit of credence.
“That rise of populism we need to be willing to take it head on. We can't just shy away.
“You can’t just be like, ‘oh, yeah, well, in order to soften the blow what we'll do is we'll also speak ill of migrants, and we'll say that we don't want this to happen, or we'll be silent on our relationship with the European Union’.”
Flynn went on to criticise the media for giving Farage such widespread coverage without challenging his record on Brexit, an issue the SNP group leader claimed was being ignored by the Conservatives and Labour.
He said: “This is the thing which has annoyed me probably the most in the last 48 hours, is that this guy has been getting significant coverage, but nobody's been saying hold on a minute, Brexit has been a total disaster, like an unmitigated disaster.
“In Scotland, we voted to remain within the European Union. He didn’t win. He lost in Scotland, and he lost handsomely in Scotland, which makes this even more frustrating.”
Flynn further said that the Brexit referendum had not been won by the Leave campaign, but “lost” by those on the Remain side.
He said: “They weren't bold enough and they weren't brave enough, particularly some of the biggest figures on the left wing, weren't bold enough and brave enough to say that this is the future and this is what should be happening.”
Flynn’s comments come as the BBC has been panned for omitting SNP leader John Swinney from a series of articles profiling “major party leaders” – while Farage was included.
