Cole-Hamilton brands Reform an “afterthought” in Holyrood election

Scottish Lib Dems leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has said that Reform UK will be an “afterthought” in the upcoming election, as his party launched their Holyrood campaign.

Cole-Hamilton was joined by Lib Dem MSPs Willie Rennie and Jamie Greene, as well as several other candidates at the Newhaven Harbour in Edinburgh.

Recent polling suggest that the Liberal Democrats have been consistently behind the SNP, Reform, and Scottish Labour in recent polling, but may have some seats to gain in regional lists against a dwindling Scottish Conservative party

However, the Scottish Lib Dem leader, who is aiming to retain his Edinburgh Northern seat, said his election strategy was “not at all” affected by the downturn in Tory support among Scots.

He added that the answer to questions currently faced by Scots was neither “the third decade in power for the SNP or that miserly vision for change fronted by the likes of Nigel Farage and Lord Offord, or indeed the Scottish Conservative Party”.

Cole-Hamilton also claimed that Reform were “overpriced”, despite being placed second for both constituency and regional opinion polling.

He said: “I think the more and more that people see Reform, they disintegrate, and I think they’ll soon be an afterthought in this election.”

He added: “I’m excited about the Lib Dem offer for the electorate, the opportunity we have to make it the ten target seats we’ve identified across Scotland, but also wherever you are, that vote for the Lib Dems on that second peach coloured ballot and that vision for change.”

His comments come as two more Reform candidates have withdrawn from the running.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats currently have five MSPs, the second-lowest in front of Reform UK who currently have one.

On the launch, Cole-Hamilton said that he was “really excited for the campaign ahead”.

“This is a huge opportunity for the Dems, who are fronting up a vision of change with fairness at its heart,” he said.

“People are tired and let down by the old way of doing politics, and we think Scotland deserves better than that, whether that’s fixing our NHS by driving down the crisis of social care, helping people with fuel bills by insulating cold Scottish homes, getting Scottish education back to its best, by taking mobile phones out of classrooms and putting people’s support systems in and getting Scotland moving again, fixing our roads and fixing our ferries.

“And we can win in seats like this. We have the beating of the SNP and we could deprive John Swinney of that majority he wants.”

Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland who joined the Liberal Democrats from the Scottish Conservatives in April 2025, is standing in the constituency of Inverclyde.

In what he said was potentially his “final speech” in the parliamentary chamber on Wednesday, Greene attacked Holyrood candidates “spouting Islamophobic bile on social media and cracking jokes at the expense of gay people”, after a homophobic “joke” by Reform’s Scottish leader Malcolm Offord was published by The National.

Offord has since apologised for his comments while criticising the media in a post on X.

An MSP since 2016, Greene is contesting the Inverclyde seat against Offord, as well as incumbent MSP Stuart McMillan of the SNP.

Having been placed second on the list for West Scotland, Greene is not expected to win re-election if he loses the constituency election.

Greene said: “At the end of the day, we don’t know what will happen on the day. The polls are all over the place. Some polls are putting are putting the Lib Dems on eight seats, others on 15.”

He added: “It’s up to the voters to decide what happens. I’m hoping for the best, but whatever happens, I won’t be going far.”