EXCLUSIVE: Nigel Farage labelled a 'chameleon' with 'racist' Reform policies

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said Scotland would reject the ex banker, suggesting Nigel Farage had 'no heart' for dealing with the issues facing the country

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Nigel Farage is a ‘chameleon’ and some of the things Reform UK push for are racist, the leader of Scottish Labour has claimed.

Anas Sarwar vowed Scotland would reject the ex banker and his party, suggesting Mr Farage had “no heart” for dealing with the issues facing the country. Speaking to The Mirror, Mr Sarwar also claimed his own party was being “shy” about the good things it was doing, warning colleagues it was not enough to just talk about them for the five days of a party conference.

He said: “I think maybe the things they are advocating for are racist, I think the campaign they ran in the Hamilton by-election was racist, I won’t comment on individuals but I want to be really clear.

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“I don’t want that to sound like I think that people who are tempted to vote for them are racist, the people who are tempted to vote for them, the vast majority are doing it out of a frustration they have in their life, and not believing there is a solution so pressing the ‘F U’ button. I want to give those people answers that actually there can be a government that works for them in Scotland.

“I am going to try to reach out to those people to try and unify our country for that new direction, rather than the divide our country approach of the SNP.”

An attack advert published by Reform UK earlier this year claimed Mr Sarwar prioritises people from Pakistan over those in Scotland.

Earlier this week the PM claimed Mr Farage's plan to axe the main route to citizenship for people who came to Britain legally was "racist".

Reform UK has also previously unveiled draconian proposals for mass deportations of asylum seekers - with plans to lock up women and children.

Mr Sarwar continued: “Nigel Farage is a chameleon, who’s got no heart for the issues that face the hard-working majority of this country. Nigel Farage looks at a problem and thinks how do I find somebody else to blame for it? Scotland will reject Farage and I’ve got no doubt the UK will reject him either.”

In a call to his own party, Mr Sarwar urged them to improve their communication skills with the public, in the face of difficult polling for Labour. He said: “We have to demonstrate the good things that Labour has done because I think we’ve been very shy about them. We can’t make the Labour party case in the five days of a conference, we’ve got to do it every day.

“People haven’t heard what we’ve done, we’ve got to communicate that better. I’m not being shy about saying that they need to stop being shy. Don’t whisper when we do something good, and allow the opposition to shout when they think we’ve done something wrong.

"Let’s be bold and big about the positive changes made, and also make it clear to the country we have only just got started, and there’s so much more to come.”