Reform ‘counting their chickens’ ahead of Holyrood election, says Badenoch

Reform UK are “counting their chickens” ahead of the election in Scotland next year, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch has said.

The Nigel Farage-led party has been surging in the polls in recent months, with predictions suggesting it could return as many as a dozen MSPs following the vote next May.

Speaking to journalists in Glasgow earlier this month, Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, said the Scottish Tories – who some polls have put his party ahead of – were “finished”.

But during her own visit to Glasgow on Thursday, Mrs Badenoch suggested Reform may be getting ahead of themselves.

“We live in very turbulent and unpredictable political times – anything can happen.”

She added: “I think they are counting their chickens.”

But Mrs Badenoch acknowledged that her party – which was resoundingly beaten by Labour in July’s election after 14 years in power – was in a “difficult position”.

“We are in a position where we need to start rebuilding trust, because obviously the reason why we were removed from government was because the public were not happy,” she said.

She later added: “We are the most successful political party in the history of western democracy. Yes, we have had our ups and downs, but the idea that we’re suddenly going to disappear just because there’s competition on the right, for me, is just not serious.

“We have just been kicked out of government, of course people will go to protest parties until they are clear about where we’re going and until we have rebuilt trust.”

Polls, she added, provide only a “snapshot” of opinion at any given time, as she insisted: “It’s not a fait accompli.

“Voting Reform just helps the SNP.”

Within hours of Mr Tice’s comments, the Reform UK Westminster group descended into infighting when MP Rupert Lowe suggested the party remains a “protest party led by the Messiah” under Mr Farage.

The former Southampton FC chairman later said it was unlikely he would return to the party, suggesting his ousting was because he posed a threat to the leader.

Asked about the saga, Mrs Badenoch described it as a “sideshow”.

“I look at what’s happening in the world, you look at what’s happening in Ukraine and the difficulties there and I’m worried about my children,” she said.

“When I speak to my constituents, they’re worried about security, they’re worried about safety.

“Most of them don’t know who the characters in Reform are and don’t care.”

A spokesman for Reform UK said: “Kemi Badenoch has now visited Glasgow more times than the majority of her Scottish Conservative MSPs and that speaks volumes.

“We are not counting our chickens or being in anyway complacent. Quite the opposite, we are out every day working hard and not taking voters for granted like the Tories did for years.

“The reality is she and her irrelevant party have been routinely beaten by Reform UK in Glasgow and across Central Scotland – given the 14 years of failure of Tories in power we’re not surprised about that.

“The Scottish Conservatives like to pretend only they can beat the SNP, but in reality they’ve been part of the bubble that has failed Scotland.

“If they’re serious about booting this rotten SNP Government out of office they should step aside as it’s very clear only a vote for Reform can beat the SNP in communities across Scotland.”