Reform MSPs walk out of Holyrood and brand independence debate a 'stunt'

The party's leader Malcolm Offord said the latest independence debate brought by First Minister John Swinney was a “stunt” and a “gimmick”.

The party left the chamber to laughter and jeers from other MSPs, after Mr Offord declared they would not take any more part in the debate which was asking the parliament to agree that "Scotland is a nation that has a right to decide its own future”.

Mr Swinney had called for cross-party support on the motion, regardless of party views on independence, and comes a week after the First Ministers of the UK’s three devolved nations met in Cardiff to declare jointly that “Westminster’s time is coming to an end”.

Mr Offord attempted to have the debate shut down before it began raising a point of order with the Presiding Officer, that the debate was "ultra vires" as the constitution is reserved to Westminster. PO Kenneth Gibson said that did not prevent the Parliament debating the issue.

After listening to Mr Swinney and then new Scottish Labour leader Michael Marra deliver their speeches, Mr Offord said: "Reform won't engage further in these pointless proceedings. We didn't come into this Parliament to waste our time on vanity projects therefore we withdraw our amendment and we will vacate the Chamber."

Responding as the next speaker, Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer laughed, and said: "I hope the Parliament Arms across the road have extra staff on this afternoon, I get the impression they might be busy."

SNP MSP George Adam said: "I'm sure this was a seismic stunt in Malcolm’s mind, but truthfully nobody batted an eyelid - though at least unlike Reform UK conference, Malcolm was able to leave without being manhandled out the building."

Outside the Chamber, Mr Offord told LBC: "I think we've made the point that we are here, that we're new, all these MSPs, apart from one, are new to this Parliament.

"And they came in with a serious intention to talk about how do we improve the lives of Scots in their day-to-day lives, How they get their kids educated, how they get their elderly relatives in and out of hospital. That's what really matters.

"This is a reserved matter under Section 5 of the Scotland Act 1998, which I know by heart because I was in the Scotland Office when we had to go to Supreme Court on this, and the Supreme Court legislated to say that Holyrood does not have authority over the independence of Scotland.

"The 2014 referendum was a consensus between Westminster and Holyrood to do that. There's no consensus today. We're not going to be part of this."

He added: "We're not going to vote today because this debate is a gimmick. It's a stunt. We're not going to do that.

Let's have a debate on child poverty. We want to engage on that. I said that to Michael Marra in the chamber."