Nigel Farage stands by Anas Sarwar attack ad

Nigel Farage has accused Anas Sarwar of introducing “sectarianism into Scottish politics” as he stood by a social media advert put out ahead of the Hamilton by-election.

Both Labour and the SNP have described the advert, which claims Sarwar would “prioritise the Pakistani community”, as “racist”.

The advert, which appears on Instagram and Meta, features clips of the Scottish Labour leader speaking at an event marking 75 years of Pakistani independence.

In the video, he said Pakistanis were “represented in every mainstream political party” and he welcomes the fact South Asian people like him “get to lead political parties and get to lead countries”.

At no point does Sarwar claim that the Pakistani community should be prioritised.

Speaking at a press conference in London on Tuesday, Farage said the outrate over the video was proof his party were “getting something right”.

Both Labour and the SNP have reported the video to Meta, the company behind the two social media platforms, to get it removed.

The Reform UK leader replayed the clips of Sarwar.

Then he said: “It was Anas Sarwar that introduced sectarianism into Scottish politics, making it perfectly clear his priority was to a certain section of the community. All we’ve done is to put out the exact words spoken by him, without any comment. We’ve said nothing, just that we will represent the people of that constituency.

“And the fact that they, having chosen to go down the sectarian route, choose to throw accusations back at us, says to me that we are winning.”

The ads have been put out in the run-up to the Scottish Parliament by-election for the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse constituency.

The seat became vacant following the death of SNP minister Christina McKelvie.

It was held by McKelvie since its creation in 2011, with Labour coming second – but both parties are now facing a major challenge from Reform.

The result is expected to be close between the three of them.

Responding to today's comments, Sarwar said: “This is a blatant attempt from Nigel Farage to try and poison our politics here in Scotland. I have fought against sectarianism all my adult life... Nigel Farage is a poisonous man who doesn’t understand Scotland, doesn’t care about Scotland, and that’s why Scotland will reject him.”

When asked about the advert earlier this week, First Minister John Swinney said: “Anas Sarwar is a political rival of mine but he should not be subjected to that kind of racist attack.”

Scottish Labour said it was “blatantly racist”.