Allegations of racism and claims of backroom deals sees Scottish election erupt

Mr Sarwar hit out after Lord Malcolm Offord – the leader of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK in Scotland – used the second TV debate of the Holyrood election campaign to try to claim Labour wanted to work with them to oust the SNP from power.

The clash came as Malcolm Offord was accused of leading a racist party with Anas Sarwar pointing to a social media post from a Reform candidate which agreed with the sentiment that all UK Muslims be deported.

Mr Sarwar, who admitted the immigration system is ‘broken’ and needs to be fixed, said that Lord Offord is raising concerns about the issue to cause division.

He said that Reform had previously spent “thousands of pounds of adverts questioning my loyalty to my country” then speaking directly to Malcolm Offord, he said: ‘He says they are not a racist party. One of his candidates wants to deport my children. Where do you want them to go, Malcolm?

‘One of your candidates wants my children deported, where do you want us to go? How dare you use that as a cover for politics. Where do you want my kids to go?’

The Reform leader responded: ‘Anas, this is the third time on national TV that you have called me a racist.

"This does not square with you coming bouncing up to me at the start of this campaign and basically saying we need to work together - Reform and Labour - to remove the SNP.’

Mr Sarwar shouted "nonsense" - and added: "Let’s remember those racist ads, lets talk about you wanting to deport my children. This is a moral issue. Where do you want my children to go Malcolm, with one of your candidates saying they should be deported."

Malcolm Offord said: "There is no prospect of you or your family or children being deported."

Mr Sarwar’s comments referred to Senga Beresford, Reform’s candidate for Galloway and West Dumfries, who replied “Me” to a post on the social media from the deputy leader of the Britain First party which said: ‘In the UK Muslims are demanding that sharia law is implemented. I demand that we deport the lot of them. Who’s with me?’

In the media spin room after the debate, Mr Sarwar said the claims he wanted to do a deal with Reform was "utter nonsense" and "an absolute lie."

He said: “Claims of any backroom deal are absolute nonsense, it is a desperate lie from a desperate man.

“It is desperation from a party whose campaign has completely flunked.”

Mr Sarwar added: “Let me be unequivocal: no stitch-ups, no deals, no backroom chats, no back-channel contact with Reform.

“I only want one deal, and that is with the people of Scotland.”

Malcolm Offord alleges that the conversation where Mr Sarwar suggested a deal happened backstage during a BBC Question Time programme in Paisley Town Hall on December 11, days after he joined Reform.

He told journalists: "I walked into that green room and Anas, very friendly, came bouncing over and said to me “you guys are going to do very well in the election, you are going to win a lot of seats, we need to talk about how we are going to work together to get rid of the Nats”.

"I’m not making it up."

Reform councillor Thomas Kerr also claimed there was a separate occasion on Remembrance Sunday when Mr Sarwar said to him they should work together to get rid of the SNP. He said: ‘The question genuinely for people in Scotland here is Anas Sarwar stands for nothing bar Anas Sarwar.

"This is a vacuous man who has no principles, who will say anything publicly and a different thing privately. And I think genuinely people in Scotland have to ask themselves is that someone they trust to be First Minister?"

During the Channel 4 debate Malcolm Offord also came under fire over his party’s billboard adverts, which showed a small boat with asylum seekers under the slogan “Scotland is at breaking point”.

Defending the poster – which First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney said had “incited tension and division” – he said: “The idea of that billboard was to say illegal asylum seekers, they come into England, but they come to Scotland, they come to Glasgow.”

He added: “What Reform is doing is honestly reflecting the views of local Scottish people, especially in our working class communities who feel they are being pushed to the back of the queue.”

The clash came after Lord Offord sided with US President Donald Trump in a debate over energy policy. Mr Trump has again urged the UK to “drill, baby, drill” and extract more oil and gas from the North Sea.

Referring to UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, the former Tory donor said: “I would agree with Donald Trump on this – drill, Mili, drill is what I would say.”

He added: “In terms of energy, we account for less than 1% of global emissions, right now it is more of a priority we have safe and affordable energy.”

Mr Swinney however told the debate that he did “not agree with President Trump about drill, baby, drill”. The SNP leader said: “I think we have got enormous challenges about energy, but Scotland is an energy-rich country which is developing formidable renewable energy resources.”

Mr Swinney’s comments come after a recent softening of his party’s stance on whether new oil and gas fields should go ahead in the North Sea – with the SNP leader saying that energy security should now be considered along with the impact on the climate.

Noting that the UK could be using oil and gas “for the next 30, 40 years”, Mr Swinney however stressed on Tuesday: “What we have got to make sure is any developments are compatible with our journey to net zero, which I am wholly committed to.”

He also said that the “key issue” for Scotland was to build up renewable capability.

His comments came as Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay attacked the SNP’s switch in stance. “It is absolutely critical the United Kingdom harnesses the oil and gas at its disposal,” the Tory said.

“Whether you like oil and gas or not – and I’m not sure which way John Swinney is facing today on that subject – whether you like it or not, our country is going to need it for decades to come.”

Mr Findlay said there should be a “sensible energy mix”, adding that “that starts with drilling for the oil and gas we have in abundance in the North Sea”. But he also backed the use of nuclear power – something the SNP is strongly opposed to.

Mr Sarwar too supports the use of nuclear power, and also backed drilling in Rosebank and Jackdaw – two fields opposed by environmentalists that the UK Labour Government is considering.

With the previous Tory government at Westminster however having approved the developments, Mr Sarwar said: “A commitment was made to respect the licences granted by the last government, we should stick to that commitment, for example for Rosebank and Jackdaw.”

Speaking about the UK Government, he added: “They’re considering those two applications and I hope they will stick to that commitment.”

Scottish Green co-leader Gillian Mackay was however insistent that no more drilling should take place. “It is very clear that any new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea is not compatible with the climate crisis and actually won’t bring anyone’s bills down,” she said.

“What actually we need to see is a move to renewables.”

Meanwhile Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole Hamilton branded the US president a “gangster”, saying “we need leadership that will stand up to him in the same way the Liberal prime minister in Canada Mark Carney did”.