NIGEL Farage has claimed that the independence movement is “full of anti-Englishness” during a live recording of his GB News programme in Aberdeen.
The show opened with a bagpiper before Farage interviewed Alba Party member and former candidate Charlie Abel.
After asking questions about “Hamza” Yousaf, Farage then asked Abel, as a supporter of independence, how much he disliked the English.
After Abel said that he did not dislike the English and that independence had nothing to do with that, Farage said: “A lot of the Scottish nationalist movement has been profoundly anti-English, hasn’t it? In a really unpleasant and nasty way.”
Abel replied: “We have lots of English people in my party and there’s nothing anti-English.
'There's no shadow of a doubt he's one of the greatest figures in Scottish politics over the last hundred years and if I'm part of a team, I'd like to him on it too.'@Nigel_Farage asks @VoteCharlieAbel of the Alba Party whether Alex Salmond is past his sell-by date in politics. pic.twitter.com/KCtLqW6Zls
— GB News (@GBNEWS) April 20, 2023
“We are for everybody. Everybody that wants to live in Scotland is welcome in our party and it doesn’t matter where they are born.”
Farage said that he had personally seen some anti-Englishness while visiting Scotland in the past.
However, Abel pointed out that that was perhaps more down to his political views rather than his nationality.
The GB News presenter then asked if Alex Salmond was “past his sell by date”.
Abel said: “Absolutely not. He’s a young man, he’s got plenty to offer the independence movement.”
After a ripple of laughter from the audience at the suggestion Salmond was “young”, Abel added: “And if you want to win a fight you want your best fighter in the ring and there’s no shadow of a doubt he’s one of the greatest figures in Scottish politics for the last 100 years and if I’m on a team I’d like to have him on my team.”
Farage said that he didn’t doubt for a minute that Salmond “was a great scrapper” but pressed Abel over whether the former first minister’s credibility had “taken a knock”.
Abel claimed there was “no issue with his credibility at all”.
Later in the programme Farage was asked by an audience member who he would rather have a pint with: Nicola Sturgeon or Alex Salmond.
Farage said: “Oh, there’s no question about that.
“I probably shouldn’t say this. The times that I’ve done debates with Nicola Sturgeon, been face-to-face with Nicola Sturgeon, walked past Nicola Sturgeon in corridors, I don’t think I’ve met anybody in politics anywhere in the world that I found so personally, deeply arrogant and unpleasant as Nicola Sturgeon.”
This was greeted with jeers and applause by the small audience inside the pub.
The former UKIP leader also shared his opinion on Scottish Government proposals for a Minimum Income Guarantee, which would see everyone in Scotland provided with money from the government to a live a “dignified” quality of life.
After an audience member described the proposal as being “popular with the work shy alcoholics and drug users, of which we have plenty already” to laughter from the audience, Farage said: “Under devolution Scottish finances have become frankly disastrous.
“What about the aspirants, what about the young people who want to get on in the world?
“I’m sure that if the late, great Adam Smith were around today he’d be horrified by this.”
Following an interview with fellow GB News presenter Neil Oliver, Farage vowed that his programme would return to Scotland before James Cooper of Ballater and District Pipe Band played the bagpipes to end the show.
