Election / Welcome to Shetland? Farage criticises ‘extreme’ protestors on election visit
REFORM UK leader Nigel Farage believes the Scottish parliamentary elections in May will be his party’s “breakthrough moment” in Holyrood.
The controversial politician also gave his backing to a so-called “Shetland tariff” for cheaper energy bills for islanders, adding: “I’d be all in favour of that”.
Farage is perhaps both the country’s most infamous current MP and one of its most popular, with his party ahead in the opinion polls to lead the next Westminster government.
His divisive nature was well on show in Lerwick on Tuesday morning, when Farage – cigarette in hand – was greeted firstly by an appreciative supporter who asked him to stay for longer.
Children stopped and asked him for a photograph. Another man asked Farage for a hug.
Just moments later, he was met by Green protestors brandishing signs that made statements like “migrants welcome” – with exchanges between Farage and the group growing testy and heated at times.
The controversial MP for Clacton reacted to shouts of “scrounger” and criticisms of him for flying in on a private jet by telling one person that it was “pure Marxism”.
Speaking to Shetland News afterwards, Farage called the group “extreme left wingers”.
“The Green party is not about the environment, this is modern day Marxism in street protest,” he said.
“They are utterly deluded. There’s an almost slightly anti-democratic feel to it, not I disagree with you but I don’t think you’ve got the right to say it.
“There’s something quite sinister about that.”
Farage said the Green party, and the protestors who heckled him, “hate the rich” and “hate success”.
“I think, to be honest, they hate people that work,” he added.
Green election candidate Alex Armitage was among those in attendance, along with Labour’s John Erskine. Armitage has drawn criticism from some quarters for calling Reform “fascist” previously.
Questioned on those comments, Farage called them “moronic”.
“As for this abuse they throw out, is it not possible for them to construct an argument and have a civilised debate? I think we know the answer,” he added.
His flying visit to the isles came a day after a Reform party conference in Aberdeen, with Farage flying in and out of Shetland on a private plane.
He did a brief walkthrough of Lerwick’s street, and had been due to stop at a local café for a coffee – but that plan was altered by the noisy street protests.
Instead he conducted interviews with BBC Radio Shetland and Shetland News, before immediately leaving for Sumburgh again.
He said his visit was to show that Reform was “taking the Scottish parliamentary elections seriously”.
“We wanted to show that we are genuinely the one political party which is trying in every corner of the United Kingdom, which no-one else really is,” Farage said.
The Reform UK leader outlined his hard-line policies on oil and gas, fishing and the renewable energy sector – calling fishing “the greatest renewable resource we possess”.
“If you manage fish stocks they’re a renewable resource, and we’ve sold it out,” he said.
“Just look at the Faroes, look how much wealthier they are then people in Shetland just through fish.
“We need to take back what is rightfully ours.”
The fishing sector in Shetland “should be a lot bigger” than it is, he said, adding it was a “fraction of what it should be” compared to countries like Norway and the Faroe Islands.
And he called it “just insane” that the UK was not progressing with more oil and gas licences in the North Sea.
“We should pumping gas out of Jackdaw,” he said.
“My message would be to Scottish parliament, to Westminster government – stop burying your heads in the sand.
Photo: Shetland News
“You’re not saving the environment, all you’re making us do is import it from other parts of the world.
“We’re going to be using oil and gas for decades to come, so let’s produce our own.”
Asked about the so-called Shetland energy tariff which has been mooted for years, which could deliver cheaper energy bills to Shetlanders for housing developments like the Viking wind farm, Farage called the move “very sensible”.
“Texas for example are pumping out a lot of gas at the moment, so they’re giving massive discounts to local residents and, crucially, to businesses,” he said.
“I’d be all in favour of that.”
Farage believes that the 7 May election in Scotland will be Reform’s “breakthrough moment” in this country.
He is targeting Reform becoming the SNP’s main opposition in Holyrood.
“I want us to fight hard against another painful referendum because a generation has not passed,” Farage said.
“I want us to argue that Scotland needs to get back to work and have less welfare-ism, to argue on oil and gas that we absolutely have to start doing this, and doing this very, very quickly.”
And he said he would be completely opposed to another independence referendum in Scotland, which he said would be a “massive distraction” from more pressing matters.
Reform’s candidate for the Shetland seat at May’s election, Vic Currie, was also in attendance at Tuesday morning’s walkthrough.
He will speak at BBC Radio Shetland’s hustings tonight at Mareel.
Shetland News will publish a response from Alex Armitage to Farage’s comments later this afternoon.
The other election candidates are, in alphabetical order: Alex Armitage (Greens), Douglas Barnett (Conservatives), John Erskine (Labour), Hannah Mary Goodlad (SNP), Emma Macdonald (Liberal Democrats), Brian Nugent (Alliance to Liberate Scotland) and Peter Tait (independent).
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