A SENIOR Reform MSP has admitted laughing in the chamber as another parliamentarian spoke about terror-linked stabbings in Edinburgh – but denied he was laughing at the attacks.
Thomas Kerr, Reform UK’s deputy leader in Scotland, had along with his colleagues been accused of contributing to the atmosphere which led to the allegedly Islamophobia-motivated attacks in Edinburgh which put five people in hospital.
Video shared online appeared to show the suspect shouting about “protecting the country from these fucking Muslim bastards” as he was arrested.
In a debate in Holyrood on Wednesday, Labour MSP Daniel Johnson drew a link between the language used by Reform politicians and racial violence on the streets.
He referenced party leader Nigel Farage calling for "cold rage" and describing the justice system as "two-tier", as well as his Scottish deputy Malcolm Offord describing people who immigrate to the UK as being of "fighting age".
Johnson challenged the Reform benches, asking: “Is this the party you want to be? Are these the sorts of politics you want to enable and represent?”
Johnson then singled out the Reform UK deputy Scottish leader, saying: "Thomas Kerr is laughing. If he thinks violence in this city is funny, I am outraged – deeply outraged.
"He should think very carefully, because people in this city were injured. There was a clear incitement and the words that he has used, and others in his party, at least do not help that situation."
Posting on social media afterwards, Kerr conceded he had been laughing, but claimed it was “at Daniel Johnson's pathetic fake outrage”.
“What a snowflake!” the Reform MSP added.
Wednesday had seen the first Reform-led debate in the Scottish Parliament, at which the party tabled a lengthy motion covering diverse topics including income tax, gender reform, low emissions zones, immigration, population, environmental policy, and energy, among other issues.
The motion was voted down, with MSPs instead voting to condemn “xenophobia, racism, and hatred in society” as well as “the actions and language of those who seek to stoke such sentiments and division”.
During the debate, Reform MSPs found themselves accused of using the “language of the Third Reich” and stoking hatred.
Johnson said that while “parties or individuals may not be fascist, they do need to think about whether they might be enabling those that absolutely do proclaim and explicitly pursue fascism”.
Offord denied a link between his party’s politics and racist violence on the streets.
“I said on the record last week, I say it again now: violence is never an answer to any problem,” the Scottish Reform leader said.
"I will say it again, violence is never the answer to any problem – but that is not to ignore the problem, and we need cohesive society, and right now we do not have that, and Reform is for cohesion in our communities."
