Conservative MSP Graham Simpson defects to Reform

Conservative MSP Graham Simpson has defected to Reform.

Simpson announced his move as he appeared at a press conference in Scotland with Reform leader Nigel Farage.

The new Reform MSP told journalists that many would not be surprised to see him defect, and that leaving the Conservatives was "an enormous wrench".

He is the second MSP to leave the party's Holyrood group in the past week.

The move means Simpson becomes Reform's sole current MSP.

Michelle Ballantyne sat as a Reform member at the Scottish Parliament from January to May 2021, having left the Conservatives the previous year and sitting for a short spell as an independent.

She lost her seat at the May 2021 election.

Simpson has been an MSP for the Central Scotland region since 2016. He is a former journalist with The Sun and Daily Record.

He said he would not step down from the Central Scotland regional list following his defection.

Speaking at a press conference in Broxburn, West Lothian, he said: "It's fair to say that some of you won't be surprised to see me here, given that the Scottish Tories have been touting my name as a potential defector for months now.

"So today, I'm giving them what they want, but perhaps not for the reasons that they think.

"Leaving the party that I first joined when I was 15 is an enormous wrench, and I've been through a lot of soul searching in the past few weeks."

Simpson said he decided to join Reform UK to "create something new, exciting and lasting".

Speaking with leader Nigel Farage by his side, he added: "I've joined Reform because we have the chance to create something new, exciting and lasting that puts the needs of people over the system, that asks what is going wrong and how we can fix it."

He said he thought Reform could "help" to remove the SNP from office after 19 years in power.

Farage's visit comes against a backdrop of increased tension and rhetoric around the immigration.

On Tuesday, the Reform leader launched a scheme called Operation Restoring Justice, aimed at tackling the migrant issue.

He said Reform would deport 600,000 migrants over five years if it won power at the next election.

Farage said his party would bar anyone who comes to the UK on small boats from claiming asylum, under plans announced earlier.

It says it would make £2bn available to offer payments or aid to countries like Afghanistan to take back migrants, with sanctions potentially imposed on uncooperative countries.

His comments came after a poll, by the David Hume Institute and Diffley Partnership, suggested 21% of Scots think immigration is one of the top three issues in the country, up from 16% in May and just 4% in May 2023.

It means immigration is now seen as the third biggest priority for the country, with only health and the cost-of-living crisis regarded as more important by voters.

Speaking to the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme a few hours ahead of Farage's visit, MP Stephen Gethins attacked the Reform MP for his "extraordinarily damaging" policies and rhetoric on immigration.

Gethins, who is the SNP foreign affairs spokesman at Westminster, questioned Reform plans to work with the Taliban to send people back to Afghanistan, as well as having the UK leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

He said Brexit - which Farage campaigned for - had "pushed up the small boats crisis" in the UK.

"He is the architect, along with people like Boris Johnson and others, of the small boats crisis," he said.

"Now he wants to remove us from the European Convention on Human Rights, which was the convention introduced at the end of the Second World War to give us some of the most basic rights, like prohibition of torture and right to life and all these other basic things we take for granted."

Gethins said these policies show Farage "is an extraordinarily damaging politician".

"I think most people can see that doing a deal with the Taliban to send back women, human rights advocates and others who have campaigned against that brutal regime is unrealistic," he added.

"I don't think it is realistic, and I think any basic reading of this is unrealistic.

"That is why Nigel Farage is one of the most disastrous politicians. He is one of the most consequential, but not in a good way."

It felt like it was only a matter of time until a Conservative MSP jumped ship to Reform.

With a Holyrood election next year, the Tory position looks bleak. Reform UK seems to be on the up.

Graham Simpson's name was one that was doing the rounds as a likely defector.

The Conservatives seem to be leaking MSPs fast. Will he be the last to depart?

Simpson seems to see this as an opportunity to help shape something new.

It may also be a route to make his re-election to Holyrood next year more likely.

Graham Simpson is a big campaigner for recall - the right to essentially fire your MSP under certain circumstances.

Ironically, there will be plenty who think that switching parties should be grounds for that.

But Simpson insists it's right that he stays put on the Holyrood benches.