The former SNP leader spoke about the rise of Reform UK when she appeared at the Boswell Book Festival on Sunday.
More politicians need to “say it like it is” to try to combat the rise of Nigel Farage and Reform, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The former SNP leader said that Reform – who are now the joint second largest party in the Scottish Parliament with 17 MSPs – had not done as well in the Holyrood election as she had “feared” they might.
Speaking about the party, led in Scotland by Lord Malcolm Offord, Ms Sturgeon said: “They did not perform as strongly as many people, including me, feared they would on Thursday.”
However she added her “fear” is that the new group of Reform MSPs could be will “try to undermine” the Scottish Parliament and “try to be disruptive and just drag politics down”.
The former SNP leader also criticised the “inability of many politicians” on what is “broadly the left of politics” to answer “straightforward questions in a straightforward way”.
Ms Sturgeon, who was Scotland’s longest serving first minister, added: “They sound as if they are trying to speak without saying anything.”
Speaking after stepping down as an MSP, she urged politicians to “stand up and make the positive case for the things you believe in”.
On the rise of Reform and the recent Holyrood elections at the Boswell Book Festival in the Scottish borders on Sunday, she added: “I lost count over recent months of the number of people I heard say ‘well I don’t agree with Nigel Farage but at least he says it like it is’.
“Maybe he does, but more politicians on the other side of the debate have to say it like it is, and I hope we get more of that and pull politics back into a space that is a bit better than it appears to be right now.”
She also insisted politicians opposed to Reform had to take on Mr Farage’s party by “pointing out why they are wrong and what the better vision for the future of the country is”.
Ms Sturgeon said: “The problems of the country are real and big, but the idea that they are caused by immigrants is an absolute falsehood, fallacy, and it suits people like Nigel Farage to make people believe that, because actually the problems of the country are caused by people like him, the proponents of Brexit.”
She told the audience: “Parties like Reform are doing well because people are disillusioned with mainstream politics, there is a sense that mainstream parties are not delivering.
“The economic realities for a lot of people are really grim, the cost of living, all of that.
“And the answer to Reform has to be the more traditional mainstream parties proving that they can deliver, but also being prepared to make difficult arguments for things that they believe in.”
Meanwhile with both Reform and Scottish Labour having 17 MSPs in the new Parliament, Ms Sturgeon said she thought their leaders may simply have to take turns when it comes to who goes first at the weekly First Minister’s Questions session at Holyrood.
The leader of the largest opposition party has always been the first to ask questions of the first minister – and also has the benefit of having more questions than the other party leaders.
Asked how it could work now, Ms Sturgeon said: “My guess will be they will alternate, one week it will be Labour, next week it will be Reform.”
She added: “It will be different, and I am sure there is all sorts of head scratching going on right now to try to work it out.”
