Swinney brands Farage's Glasgow schools comments 'simply racist'

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage described what he saw as the ‘cultural smashing’ of Glasgow (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Stefan Rousseau

Scotland's First Minister John Swinney has branded Nigel Farage's recent comments about Glasgow schoolchildren as "simply racist." The sharp rebuke comes after the Reform UK leader claimed in a social media video that one in three schoolchildren in Glasgow do not speak English as their first language.

Farage described the linguistic diversity as "the cultural smashing of Glasgow" in his video. He questioned who had voted for this demographic change: «This is not diversity, as the left always preach, this actually is the cultural smashing of Glasgow. It's turning it into a completely different city in every way. My question is, who voted for this? Who told anybody in Scotland this was actually happening?»

Swinney's sharp response

Speaking to media on Thursday, Swinney delivered an unambiguous condemnation of Farage's remarks. «I think Nigel Farage's comments are just quite simply racist. That's what they are. There's no other way to describe it,» the First Minister said.

Swinney rejected the premise that multilingualism represents a problem for Scottish society. «I don't know quite when we believed that multilingualism was something of a problem in our society, and certainly not the view I take. I think it's a benefit. I think it reflects the diversity of our country,» he explained.

The First Minister urged voters to carefully consider Farage's views before supporting his party. «I think what these comments from Nigel Farage demonstrate is that he is a purveyor of racist views and people should think about that long and hard before they think about voting for his party,» Swinney said.

Reform UK has been approached for comment regarding Farage's remarks.

Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).