Reform UK Scotland leader Malcolm Offord brands independence debate a 'stunt' as he walks out Holyrood

Reform UK’s Scotland leader has walked out of the chamber at Holyrood after branding an independence debate as a “stunt” and a “gimmick”.

Malcolm Offord walked out of the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday as MSPs were urged to endorse a motion which states “that the Parliament agrees that Scotland is a nation that has a right to decide its own future”.

The First Minister called on cross-party support for the motion, regardless of their views on independence.

The debate comes one week after first ministers of the UK’s three devolved nations met in Cardiff to declare jointly that “Westminster’s time is coming to an end”.

Offord said he did not come into parliament to “waste time on vanity projects” and left the chamber flanked by Reform MSPs, including deputy leader Thomas Kerr, to the sounds of claps and cheers from other MSPs.

Outside of the chamber, Offord told STV News’ Colin Mackay that the debate was “a waste of time” which he was “not interested” in.

He said: “We don’t want to indulge the SNP just because they’re coming up to their conference, have a debate, which, incidentally, they don’t seem to want to have with their own members. It’s a waste of our time. We want to deal with things like the homelessness stats that came out today or deal with the drug deaths tomorrow.

“That is more important, Colin. That is a stunt, it’s a gimmick. We’re not interested in that.”

When asked if his walkout itself was not a stunt and a gimmick, Offord responded: “We are just saying that we are here as serious parliamentarians to deal with the issues that really matter to Scottish people.”

Offord claimed he was representing two million Scots who did not vote in May’s Holyrood election, adding they were “scunnered” with the Scottish Parliament.

He continued: “Two million Scots didn’t vote in the last election. What does that tell you?

“Two million Scots out of 4.3 million consider this Parliament to be inadequate. Not dealing with their daily issues. And this is the sort of debate that gets two million Scots scunnered. And we’re here to represent the two million Scots who didn’t vote. And that’s why we had to make this point.”