Leader Malcolm Offord posed with all 17 of Reform UK Scotland’s new regional list MSPs, after the party secured seats across every region in Thursday’s Scottish Parliament election.
The shoot, held against the backdrop of the SSE Hydro, SEC Armadillo and Finnieston Crane, came a day after Reform won Holyrood seats in an election for the first time, finishing joint second with Scottish Labour on 17 MSPs apiece.
Newly elected Reform UK MSPs gathered on the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow today for their first photocall since yesterday’s Holyrood elections. (Image: Colin Mearns)
Under Scotland’s additional member voting system, the party failed to win any constituencies, narrowly missing out in Banffshire and Buchan Coast by just 364 votes to the SNP.
They made sweeping gains on the regional lists, returning MSPs in West Scotland, Mid Scotland and Fife, Edinburgh and Lothians East, the North East, South Scotland, Glasgow, Central Scotland and Lothians West and Highlands and Islands.
Newly elected Reform UK MSPs gathered on the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow today for their first photocall since yesterday’s Holyrood elections. (Image: Colin Mearns)
Newly elected Reform UK MSPs gathered on the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow today for their first photocall since yesterday’s Holyrood elections. (Image: Colin Mearns)
Newly elected Reform UK MSPs gathered on the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow today for their first photocall since yesterday’s Holyrood elections. (Image: Colin Mearns)
Newly elected Reform UK MSPs gathered on the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow today for their first photocall since yesterday’s Holyrood elections. (Image: Colin Mearns)
Reform, which had previously only had two Holyrood members through defections from the Conservatives, is now seeking to position itself as the main opposition to the SNP and has pledged to push for tax cuts, reduced state spending, and tougher action on immigration.
Malcom Offord has admitted he was disappointed that the party had failed to win more than 20 MSPs, as some polls had suggested.
Lord Offord, who was elected on the West Scotland list, said the group’s job would “simply be to hold the government to account”.
“What I think we will do is just be challengers and scrutineers.
“We are going to be very focused on trying to get Holyrood focused on the day job, on devolved matters, not spending the whole time talking about reserved matters, and really highlighting the issues that we’ve found on the doorsteps that really matter to people, the schools, the roads, the hospitals, policing.”
