A Scottish Labour councillor has defected to Reform UK.
The party welcomed Scottish Labour councillor Jamie McGuire to Reform UK on Monday afternoon while party leader Nigel Farage was on the by-election campaign trail in Hamilton.
The Renfrew North and Braehead councillor McGuire is the second councillor to join Reform UK in one day.
Following McGuire’s defection, Reform UK now has 14 Scottish councillors. The party also claims to have more than 10,000 members in Scotland.
Reform said it was “delighted” to welcome the former Labour councillor to its ranks.
McGuire previously worked in the constituency office of Paisley MP Alison Taylor. Before that, he was the chair of the Glasgow University Labour Club.
On Monday morning, during a party press conference in Aberdeen, Farage also welcomed Scottish Tory councillor Duncan Massey to Reform.
“One of the reasons we’re doing well in Scotland is that we’re attracting very good talent,” Farage said in Aberdeen.
“There have been several Conservative councillors that have come to us, and there’ll be a Labour councillor coming to us this afternoon when we get to Hamilton.”
In 2024, UK Labour had a total membership of 370,450.
In the same year, SNP membership fell by around 18,000 to 64,525.
The Tories do not publish membership figures, but income from membership fees fell from £1.97m to £1.5m.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “The biggest announcement Nigel Farage made today was him admitting that Reform cannot win this by-election and his revealing his plans to slash funding for Scotland’s NHS.
“This week the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse will get a chance to call time on SNP failure and choose a new direction with Scottish Labour.
“It’s clear the SNP does not deserve to win this by-election and only Scottish Labour can beat them.”
“On Thursday, people in Hamilton, Larkhall, and Stonehouse have a chance to send a local man to the Scottish Parliament who will fight every day for the community he calls home.”
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