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Mr Offord said voters are ‘sick and tired’ of the constitutional ‘doom loop’
Independence should be parked as an issue for the next decade, the new leader of Reform UK in Scotland has said.
Malcolm Offord said voters are “sick and tired of this doom loop” and the focus should instead be on fixing the economy.
The Scottish Conservatives accused Reform of being “weak” on independence and splitting the pro-Union vote.
Malcolm Offord | PAMr Offord was appointed Reform’s new Scottish leader by Nigel Farage at a press conference in Kirkcaldy on Thursday.
Speaking to BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, he suggested it would not be “constitutional” to simply reject any call for a second referendum.
However, he said a number of tests were met before the 2014 vote was granted. These included Alex Salmond winning an overall majority as SNP leader in Holyrood and a political consensus north and south of the Border.
“Certainly, what I can tell you is going around the doorsteps there is absolutely no consensus among the Scottish people for this,” Mr Offord said. “They are sick and tried of this doom loop of the constitution. Can we just park it?”
He added: “I think it needs two terms of Holyrood to focus on the day job, which is devolved matters. That’s 10 years. Can we please fix our economy, get our growth back into the system, get our revenues up, come back to this later. But not for now, please.”
Tory MP Andrew Bowie, the shadow Scottish secretary, said: “This is yet more evidence of why the SNP are in love with Reform. Not only will voting for Nigel Farage’s party help the Nationalists get a Holyrood majority.
“Any MSPs he does get elected will be meek on the Union and step aside for John Swinney’s indyref carnival that never leaves town. They might even join up — Reform are actually likely to field pro-independence candidates.
“And Farage is relaxed about the prospect of another five years of SNP control. That’s all he will achieve by splitting the pro-Union vote while offering nothing in return.”
Mr Offord defected from the Tories to Reform last month. He was made a life peer in 2021 and served as a Scotland Office minister and business minister in the previous Conservative administration at Westminster.
He previously announced his intention to retire from the Lords to lead Reform into May’s Holyrood election.
Mr Farage’s party has yet to outline its policies in Scotland. But on Sunday, Mr Offord said people in Scotland are being “taxed too much”.
He stressed the need to grow the economy, adding: “We’ve now got what used to be called middle earning professionals, whether it’s teachers or nurses, being dragged into higher tax rate bands. Do you think that’s right?
“The middle earners are the ones who set the alarm clock, get out, go to work every day. They’re the ones who are being squeezed. We need to unleash their potential. We can’t do that if they feel put upon every day.”
However, he distanced himself from some of the language used by Robert Jenrick, who defected to Reform on Thursday, about welfare “scroungers”.
Mr Offord said he had not used that word, but added: “Everyone is entitled to their own language.” He said he wanted to help people back into work.