The former Tory peer – who defected to Reform UK last year – accused migrants of “jumping the queues” of public services “to the detriment of local people in our own communities”.
Millionaire Malcolm Offord was branded a “chancer” during the first live TV debate of the Holyrood election campaign tonight.
During a heated discussion over immigration, Greens co-leader Ross Greer hit out at the leader of Reform UK in Scotland after he accused migrants of “jumping the queues” of public services “to the detriment of local people in our own communities”.
Offord, a former Conservative peer, made millions as a merchant banker before defecting from the Tories to join Nigel Farage’s right-wing populists last year.
Greer told a BBC audience in Paisley: “He is an absolute chancer. This is a failed Tory minister who gave the Tory Party £200,000 and then they gave him a seat in the House of Lords and ministerial office – I’m sure that was totally coincidental.
“He was part of that failed Tory government, the former leader of Reform in Wales is currently doing a 10-year jail sentence for taking Russian bribes, they are not the answer to any of the challenges in Scotland.”
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Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also blasted Offord and told the audience he had spent tens of thousands of pounds “questioning my loyalty to my country”.
Sarwar said: “Let’s not fall for the trap that Malcolm Offord wants you to fall into. He wants to use migration not to make our country better, but to play a dog whistle and divide our country.”
He continued: “And let him also own the fact that he spent tens of thousands of pounds questioning my loyalty to my country, Scotland. And when he did that, yes, he attacked me, but he attacked anyone from a migrant background in this country.
“My family came to this country in the 1940s. Scotland has seen his type before and rejected them, and I’ve got no doubt they’ll do the same again.”
Offord previously told the audience in Paisley his party will “challenge the cosy consensus” and pledged tax cuts.
He added: “Reform UK is a new party, it’s a challenger party. We’re here to challenge the cosy consensus, frankly, which is going on in Holyrood, and we want to see real change.
“What do we stand for? Most? We stand for people who work. We stand for people go to work, do the right thing in their community, and feel that they get punished.”
He continued: “The first thing we’re going to do is give you a tax cut so you’re allowed to keep more money in your own pocket, which you’ll invest in your families, in your communities, that will grow the economy and raise a lot more welfare for all the things we’re going to talk about this evening.”
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