EXCLUSIVE: David Kirkwood also peddled false claims that President Trump won the 2020 US election.
A Reform MSP has been branded “dangerous” after boasting about persuading people to snub the covid jag.
David Kirkwood said he did not take the shot himself and claimed he knew of “very few” people in his party who agreed to the injection.
He also backed the false claim that President Trump won the 2020 US election, despite Joe Biden romping home by seven million votes.
Kirkwood, who was elected as a South Scotland MSP in May, sits on the Holyrood Public Audit committee and is his party’s shadow “technology” minister.
An investigation into his X posts has revealed a stream of claims questioning the covid vaccine and spreading misinformation about the 2020 election.
The covid jags are widely believed to have saved lives and protected elderly people, but Kirkwood wrote in August 2021:
“TBH I think you’d need to be a bit of a mug now to have the first jag.”
Twenty four hours later, he tweeted: “Yes, a few people have decided not to have either the first or second jag after talking to me.”
Kirkwood, who does not have a medical degree, wrote in 2023: “I’ve never had a jag, l’ve persuaded many other people not to have them and l’d like them stopped, but realise that they may be beneficial in some ways for some people.”
Months later, he said of covid-19: “There never was a serious risk to the nation’s health.”
He returned to the same theme months later: “To be fair, a lot of people were bamboozled by the so-called “science” in the early days. However, I know of very few people in our party that even had one jag, never mind any boosters.”
Kirkwood, a management consultant before getting elected to Holyrood, stuck to the same line in February last year: “I never had any jags and I persuaded a lot of other people never to have any.”
He also sided with Trump in pushing the false claim that he beat Biden six years ago.
Part of the conspiracy theory centres around the false claim Biden benefited from fraud to win Maricopa County in the swing state of Arizona.
Kirkwood tweeted in 2021: “Trump’s election was stolen from him – the Maricopa (AZ) county result is in serious doubt due to large-scale fraud. It will be the first of many.”
He also wrote: “Trump DID win the 2020 election.”
Kirkwood’s online biography states: “He is not easily swayed by popular opinion and will speak out when things need to change.”
Scottish Greens MSP Kayleigh Kinross-O’Neill said: “These comments from David Kirkwood are the latest example of Reform UK living on another planet. Denying reality and fact is becoming a trademark for Reform UK.
“People deserve representatives who are grounded in evidence, public health and democratic reality.
“At the height of a global pandemic, communities across Scotland were doing everything they could to keep each other safe.
“For any elected representative to have boasted about persuading people not to get vaccinated, if these reports are accurate, is irresponsible and dangerous. The truth is, Covid-19 vaccines saved lives.”
“The comments about Donald Trump and the 2020 US election also reveal Reform UK’s habit of believing, and spreading, conspiracy theories peddled by the far-right.”
Tory MSP Craig Hoy said: “We already knew this Reform MSP held wildly out-of-touch views given his longstanding support for breaking up the United Kingdom.”
Reform UK in Scotland has been contacted.
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