It was inevitable that Nigel Farage would take Reform UK’s campaign tour to Aberdeen. On a visit to the capital of the UK’s oil and gas industry on Monday last week he welcomed a defecting Aberdeen Conservative councillor, the 13th switch to his party’s ranks in Scotland to date.
Reform is hoping to make political hay from the discontent surrounding the government’s North Sea policies, the demise of the oil and gas basin and the vast workforce that depends on it. The populist party has vowed to reverse Labour’s ban on fresh North Sea oil and gas drilling as a “day one” priority if elected to power in 2029.
