Reform are now the joint second largest party at Holyrood and have risen above the the Scottish Tories.
The rise of Reform UK in Scotland is “deeply concerning”, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives has said as he ruled out any chance of working with the new party.
Russell Findlay said Reform UK are not a Unionist party and “don’t appear to stand for anything”.
Speaking to the Press Association in Moffat, Dumfries and Galloway, on Saturday, Mr Findlay said: “I think the rise of Reform, the one-man band of Reform, is deeply concerning.
“They are not a Unionist party, I’ve said that throughout the campaign.
“They don’t appear to have any coherent policies in Scotland, they don’t appear to stand for anything, they don’t stand for the Union.
“They talk about nationalising some industries, they appear to say that the SNP’s welfare bill is perfectly reasonable.
“I think the more that people see of this party – and it’s a fairly odd collection of characters who appear to very little in common with each other – the more they will see in the Conservatives what we have always been, which is the strong, sensible, credible voice of opposition, the people that can be trusted to hold the SNP to account.”
With Reform now the joint second largest party at Holyrood, they have risen above the Scottish Tories – who have fallen to fifth place in with 12 MSPs.
Despite this, Mr Findlay has ruled out working with the party and vowed to continue to “stand up” for the centre right in British politics.
He continued: “Reform have stated they want to destroy the Conservative Party, so there’s no way I or Kemi (Badenoch) want to work with this one-man band. We will continue to stand up for the credible centre right in British politics.
“There’s so many people out there that didn’t even bother to vote. One in two people chose not to vote and I think that’s a sad reflection on the feelings of apathy and despair there are across Scotland.
“It’s my job over the next five years to tell people they don’t have to accept the mediocrity of this dismal SNP government and their obsession with breaking up the UK.
“They can look to us and back a party that will support them with credible plans to bring down taxes to make the cost of living more affordable, and to have a parliament that’s focused on the real issues, not things like gender, self-ID or any of that other nonsense.”
