Table of Contents
Sarwar dismisses Reform UK MSP candidates as ‘hopeless Tory rejects and oddballs’ as one suspended over misconduct
Severin Carrell
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Commenting on Reform UK’s decision to suspend one of its MSP candidate (see 1.13pm), and revelations coming out about the extremist views of others (see 10.12am), Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said:
Nigel Farage promised that Reform’s candidates in Scotland would be ‘fit and proper people’ – and yet, just like every promise made by Farage, it has fallen apart immediately on impact with reality.
Within 24 hours of the party’s candidates being announced, one has already been suspended, while several more are embroiled in scandal.
This hopeless group of Tory rejects and oddballs is not the sign of a serious or credible party and demonstrates that Farage is nothing more than a snake oil salesman who cannot be trusted.
Key events
Afternoon summary
Polanski defends his plans for more borrowing, saying they are ‘exact opposite’ of Liz Truss’s
Cooper warns Tehran against targeting UK interests
IFS says Reform UK’s tax plans for Scotland ‘not credible’, as it accuses party of not knowing how Scottish budget works
Sarwar dismisses Reform UK MSP candidates as ‘hopeless Tory rejects and oddballs’ as one suspended over misconduct
House of Lords has ‘signed its own death warrant’ by stalling assisted dying bill, says MP
Reform UK suspends Scottish MSP candidate after it emerges he had been struck off as company director
Gerry Adams welcomes withdrawal of civil case by claimaints blaming him for three IRA bombings
Greens says mass, public prayer events, for Muslims and others, represent ‘best of our society, not threat to it’
No 10 defends letting US use British bases for defensive strikes after Iran calls this ‘participation in aggression’
Labour claims extremist candidate revelations show Reform UK’s launch in Scotland has fallen apart
Government to fund clean-up of worst illegal waste sites as action plan launched
Zack Polanski says he wants Greens to hold balance of power after election, letting them push for PR and wealth tax
Reform UK brushes off concerns about extremism of some of its MSP candidates, with one saying Humza Yousaf ‘not British’
Attorney general Richard Hermer asks if Kemi Badenoch would object to Jewish public prayer
Iran’s foreign minister tells Yvette Cooper UK letting US use bases is ‘participation in aggression’
Rightwing narrative fuelling false belief UK public oppose net zero, study finds
Reform UK’s record in local government shows it ‘doesn’t accept need for evidence-based policymaking’, report says
Reform UK success in local elections could endanger national climate targets, report says
Afternoon summary
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Polanski defends his plans for more borrowing, saying they are ‘exact opposite’ of Liz Truss’s
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, has rejected claims that his economic plans make him a leftwing version of Liz Truss.
In his economy speech on Wednesday, Polanski confirmed that favoured more government borrowing and that he was opposed to the way the government’s fiscal rules currently constrain spending.
This has let to him being accused of having unfunded spending plans – just as Truss did in the mini-budget that almost led to a financial crash, and resulted in government borrowing costs soaring.
But, in his interview with Nick Robinson for the Political Thinking podcast, Polanski claimed that what he was proposing was completely different. He said:
Liz Truss was doing the exact opposite of what I was saying [in the speech]. She was borrowing to fund unfunded tax cuts. But I’m talking about borrowing to invest in infrastructure, in capital spending.
I’m not talking about borrowing to fund unfunded tax cuts for multi-millionaires and billionaires. I’m talking about borrowing to fund transport, education, health. Because actually, if you don’t invest in these things, it costs so much more because it’s a nonsense economy.
Polanski said the government is too short-term in its assessment of whether borrowing for investment was good value. He said part of the problem related to people viewing government finances as like a household budget.
Polanski also suggested that part of Truss’s problem was that the markets did not believe she had a coherent strategy.
He said he was not proposing that the government should borrow whatever it wanted. He said the government should borrow in accordance with an economic plan.
And that had to be communicated to the financial markets, he said.
This is a key point. Bond markets aren’t ideological. They just want to know that there’s a plan, there’s stability and certainty. And what we saw over five Tory prime ministers and, now Keir Starmer, is a lack of a plan.
Polanski also admitted that he had put off agreeing to the Political Thinking interview, despite being invited on six months ago, because he wanted to develop his economic thinking. He said the expert economists he had consulted recently included Joseph Stiglitz, who has won a Nobel prize, Mariana Mazzucato and Ann Pettifor.
Cooper warns Tehran against targeting UK interests
Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, has warned Tehran against targeting UK interests as her Iranian counterpart said the UK providing its military bases to the US to use is seen as “participation in aggression”.
As the Press Associatition reports, the IIranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, delivered the message in a phone call with Cooper. (See 10.01am.)
In its readout of the call, the Foreign Office said Cooper condemned Iran’s “reckless attacks” on Gulf partners and critical energy infrastructure as well as its disruption and closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
She called for freedom of navigation to be restored immediately and reiterated the UK’s call to halt attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations.
A spokesperson said:
The foreign secretary made clear to the foreign minister that the defensive UK operations in the region were a response to the Iranian aggression against Gulf partner countries who had not attacked Iran and she called on Iran to immediately stop these reckless strikes against its neighbours.
She made clear that the UK wants to see a swift resolution to this conflict.
The foreign secretary also warned Iran against targeting UK bases, territory or interests directly and restated the UK’s focus on regional stability and security.
IFS says Reform UK’s tax plans for Scotland ‘not credible’, as it accuses party of not knowing how Scottish budget works
It has not been a great day for Reform UK in Scotland. Following the suspension of one MSP candidate, (see 1.13pm), and revelations coming out about the extremist views of others (see 10.12am), the Institute for Fiscal Studies has just published an analysis of Reform’s manifesto tax plans saying that they are “not credible” and that the party either does not understand, or is misrepresenting, how the Scottish government’s budget works.
Here is an extract from the report. (Bold text from the IFS original.)
Plans to significantly cut Scottish income tax rates are front and centre of Reform UK’s Scottish manifesto. Initial cuts – setting each tax rate 1 percentage point below that in the rest of the UK – would cost around £2.3bn per year by 2030, with the final goal – rates 3 percentage points below the rest of the UK – costing around £4bn a year. These are large tax cuts – up to 1.5% of Scottish GDP – in the context of a Scottish budget that is already likely to be under strain due to rising spending pressures and a slowdown in funding growth from the UK government.
The manifesto repeats plans to pay for these tax cuts by ending spending on ‘net zero’ initiatives and unspecified cuts to spending managed by ‘quangos’. As we highlighted when these plans were first announced in January, the Scottish fiscal framework means that cuts to capital investment – which includes much of the spending on ‘net zero’ initiatives – cannot be used to pay for tax cuts.
Reform UK also claims that the income tax cuts would in fact pay for themselves via higher economic growth. This is not credible. Specifically, the manifesto’s claim that each percentage point of additional economic growth would generate a cumulative £8bn over 10 years and that this would ‘repay the £2 bn up-front cost four times over’ is wrong in two important ways.
First, the annual costs above already incorporate assumptions about behavioural responses to the tax cuts, including higher labour supply, less tax avoidance and evasion, and higher net immigration. There is room for reasonable disagreement as to the likely size of behavioural responses but there is no evidence to suggest that the tax cuts would pay for themselves. Moreover, because only around one third of tax revenues are devolved to Scotland, only part of the revenue increase that would result from increased economic growth would accrue to the Scottish Government. Because of this, the Scottish Fiscal Commission estimates that a 1% boost to earnings, for example, would boost devolved income tax revenues by only around £300m a year (or around £3 billion over 10 years) .
Second, the £2bn (or more) cost of the income tax cuts is not a one-off up-front cost – it is an annual cost. Even if the figure were correct, £8bn over 10 years does not exceed £2bn per year, let alone repay it four times over.
The ‘self-funding’ tax cuts are therefore a mirage created by a misunderstanding or misrepresentation of the current devolution settlement and incorrectly comparing cumulative and annual figures.
The IFS almost always finds some flaws in political parties’ budget proposals when it analyses them, and it regularly complains about politicians under-estimating the costs of their plans. But it is not often that it rubbishes proposed tax policies as it is doing here.
Sarwar dismisses Reform UK MSP candidates as ‘hopeless Tory rejects and oddballs’ as one suspended over misconduct
Severin Carrell
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Commenting on Reform UK’s decision to suspend one of its MSP candidate (see 1.13pm), and revelations coming out about the extremist views of others (see 10.12am), Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said:
Nigel Farage promised that Reform’s candidates in Scotland would be ‘fit and proper people’ – and yet, just like every promise made by Farage, it has fallen apart immediately on impact with reality.
Within 24 hours of the party’s candidates being announced, one has already been suspended, while several more are embroiled in scandal.
This hopeless group of Tory rejects and oddballs is not the sign of a serious or credible party and demonstrates that Farage is nothing more than a snake oil salesman who cannot be trusted.
House of Lords has ‘signed its own death warrant’ by stalling assisted dying bill, says MP
The House of Lords “signed its own death warrant” over its stalling of the UK assisted dying bill, the MP Kim Leadbeater said as she joined more than a dozen terminally ill and bereaved people in protest outside parliament. Caroline Davies has the story.
Reform UK suspends Scottish MSP candidate after it emerges he had been struck off as company director
Severin Carrell
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Reform UK has suspended one of its Scottish candidates after it emerged he had been struck off as a director, only a few weeks after Nigel Farage promised every one would be “fit and proper”.
Reform confirmed on Friday morning it had suspended Stuart Niven, its candidate for Dundee West, after the Herald revealed he had been struck off after diverting tens of thousands of pounds in Covid grants into his personal account.
In a press release, the party said: “Reform UK Scotland understands that one of its’ candidates made headlines overnight.”
Confirming that Niven had been “suspended pending further investigation into allegations regarding his financial conduct,” their spokesperson said: “We take allegations like this very seriously, and a full investigation is underway.”
The Herald reported that Niven had disqualified as a director from 10 February 2026 until February 2033 “for conduct while acting for Britannia Maritime Security Ltd”. Companies House records showed that company had entered liquidation in December 2023, after receiving a £50,000 government loan under the Covid-related bounce back scheme.
The disqualification undertaking stated that Niven “caused Britannia Maritime Security Ltd to breach the terms and conditions of the bounce back loan scheme by failing to use the funds obtained from the bounce back loan scheme for the economic benefit of Britannia Maritime Security.”
Speaking at a press conference in Fife, 26 days before Niven’s disqualification had come into force, Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader had insisted his party’s candidate selection process was rigorous and professional, in light of the scandal over his party’s former Welsh leader being convicted for accepting Russian bribes.
Farage said candidate selection had been “piss-poor” in the past. He said:
I promise you, I promise you, we are doing everything we can to make sure these candidates for the Scottish parliament are vetted, and are fit and proper people to put before the electorate.
At the same event in January, Farage said:
One of the promises that I made as leader of Reform the morning after the general election is that I would professionalise the party.
We had in London this weekend a hundred of our vetted candidates for the Scottish Parliament elections who spent the whole day going through intensive media training, being asked questions, being cross-questioned, being really put through their paces, so we could find out which of our candidates have the best talent, which are the best at pushing our message.
Gerry Adams welcomes withdrawal of civil case by claimaints blaming him for three IRA bombings
Three men who sued the former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams over three Irish Republican Army bombings in Britain have withdrawn their lawsuit, their lawyers told the high court in London.
In a statement, Adams said:
I welcome today’s decision by the claimants to drop their case against me. I attended the civil case out of respect for them.
This decision brings to an emphatic end a case that should never have been brought.
I contested this case and defended myself against the smears and false accusations being levelled against me.
I asserted the legitimacy of the Republican cause and the right of the people of Ireland to freedom and self-determination. I do so again.
During my two days of evidence I categorically rejected all of the claims being made.
I am glad to have been one of those who helped bring an end to the conflict.
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson also said that Keir Starmer would “absolutely not” support Nigel Farage’s proposal for mass prayer events involving Muslims to be banned. The spokesperson said that in the Commons on Wednesday Keir Starmer described Nick Timothy’s comments attacking the Trafalgar Square gathering as “utterly appalling”. He went on:
The prime minister is clear that freedom of religion and the right to peaceful expression are core British values and should be respected, whether it is peaceful prayer, protest or assembly.
Greens says mass, public prayer events, for Muslims and others, represent ‘best of our society, not threat to it’
Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, and his two deputies, Mothin Ali and Rachel Millward, have issued a joint statement condemning the attacks on Muslims taking part in a mass prayer in Trafalgar Square that have been launched by the Conservatives and Reform UK.
The Greens have said that, far from being gatherings that should be banned, these events reflect “the best of our society”.
They say:
Recent comments from Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch regarding public prayer by Muslim communities risk not only inflaming division and misrepresenting the nature of peaceful religious expression, but also undermining the very freedoms that form the foundation of a democratic and pluralistic society.
Britain has long been a country where people of all faiths, and none, can come together in shared spaces with mutual respect. Events such as the Trafalgar Square gathering ahead of Eid, where people of different backgrounds joined in prayer and reflection, are not “acts of intimidation or dominance”. They are expressions of community and coexistence. They reflect the best of our society, not a threat to it.
To characterise such gatherings as outside the “norms of British culture” is to misunderstand what British culture truly is: diverse, evolving, and enriched by the many communities that call this country home. Religious freedom is not conditional on whether a practice is familiar or comfortable to some, it is a fundamental right.
Words matter, and they can either build bridges or deepen divides. We choose to use ours to build bridges.
No 10 defends letting US use British bases for defensive strikes after Iran calls this ‘participation in aggression’
Downing Street has defended the PM’s decision to let the US use British bases for “defensive” attacks against Iranian missile sites.
But, in response to Iran describing the move as “participation in aggression”, No 10 also insisted that the UK does no want to get drawn into a wider war.
Asked about the comments from the Iranian foreign minister (see 10.01am) at the No 10 lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson said:
Our position is very clear. We didn’t participate in the initial strikes and we’re not getting drawn into the wider war.
We have authorised the US, to use our bases for a specific, defensive and limited purpose in response to Iran’s continued and outrageous aggression. And we’ve always said that this is the best way to eliminate the urgent threat and restore a path to diplomacy.
Asked if the PM found the Iranian foreign minister’s words “worrying”, the spokesperson just repeated his point about the UK “not getting drawn into the wider war”.
