Nigel Farage has launched a second attack video aimed at Anas Sarwar and accused the Scottish Labour leader of being “obsessed about race”, escalating the increasingly personal row before a key Holyrood byelection.
The campaign for the central Scotland seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse is rapidly evolving into a head-to-head contest between the two party leaders. A Reform UK advert that incorrectly claims Sarwar has promised to prioritise Pakistani communities is now subject to formal complaints to Meta from Scottish Labour and the SNP.
Speaking at a campaign event in north-west England on Thursday, Keir Starmer weighed in to support Sarwar, saying: “What we’ve seen with Reform in Scotland in relation to this particular video is manipulation. And it is, as ever with Reform and Nigel Farage, trying to divide people with a toxic divide and to poison our politics.
“I think our politics is above that, and that’s why I think it’s absolutely right that Anas Sarwar has called this out for what it is”.
Sarwar, one of the UK’s most prominent Muslim politicians, has pushed back fiercely against Farage’s repeated attacks, denouncing him on Wednesday as a “pathetic, poisonous little man” and challenging him to come to Hamilton to debate him face-to-face after the Reform UK leader accused him of “introducing sectarianism into Scottish politics”.
Sarwar has posted on Instagram, Facebook and X with a “message to Nigel Farage” in a clip filmed in Hamilton, accusing the Reform leader of being an elitist outsider. Farage is expected to visit the constituency for the first time next week, as the fiercely contested campaign enters its final days.
The byelection was prompted by the death of the popular nationalist MSP Christina McKelvie in March. Reform is seemingly gaining ground from Labour and the SNP and the result is anticipated as a significant bellwether less than a year before the Scottish parliament elections due in May 2026.
With the SNP still the clear favourite, Scottish Labour may also now be focusing on avoiding the humiliation of being overtaken by Reform and pushed into third; Labour’s candidate, Davy Russell, is widely seen as a poor performer who is struggling with the campaign.
The Facebook advert, which Reform UK has spent up to £14,999 pushing to local voters, reproduced a decontextualised clip of Sarwar speaking at an event celebrating the 75th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence in 2022, when he said: “Pakistanis need [to be] represented in every mainstream political party in Scotland and across the UK.”
It appears alongside text reading: “Anas Sarwar has said he will prioritise the Pakistani community.” He does not say this anywhere in the clips shown.
Farage’s released a second attack video yesterday, captioned: “Anas Sarwar is the one obsessed about race.” It splices a speech Sarwar delivered at the Scottish parliament, pointing out the lack of black and ethic minority leaders across the public sector, with footage of Farage speaking at a Reform rally, where he says: “We don’t care about skin colour … we don’t care who you are … we care whether you share the values of this country.”
Despite his criticism of Farage, who remains an unpopular figure in Scotland, Sarwar has said he understands why voters may be lured by Reform. “It’s really important to stress that people who are tempted to vote Reform, the vast majority, if not all of them, they’re not racist, they’re not stupid, it’s not that they don’t understand politics. It’s because they’re scunnered [fed up] because they think government doesn’t work for them.”
The SNP leader, John Swinney, has demanded that Meta, the owner of Facebook, act on the “racist” advert, saying: “Anas Sarwar is a political rival of mine, but he shouldn’t be subjected to that kind of racist attack and we want to make sure that we stand in solidarity against the tactics of Farage.”
