Reform UK's Malcolm Offord to contest Inverclyde seat at election

At a press conference in Greenock today Malcolm Offord announced that he will contest the Inverclyde constituency at May's Scottish Parliament elections.

Mr Offord, who was born and brought up in Greenock, said the area was the only place he wanted to stand when he first announced his defection from the Conservatives to Reform last year.

He said: “The question then came when I joined Reform, where would I stand?

“For me, there was only one place I wanted to do that, to come here, back to Inverclyde, for a number of reasons.

“Obviously, it’s my hometown, but also because in a way Inverclyde is almost like a microcosm of Scotland and the issues we need to deal with in Scotland as a whole, we need to deal with in Inverclyde.

“It’s almost like if we can solve one, we can solve the other.”

At the same press conference, Mr Offord refused to apologise for controversial comments he made relating to a knife incident in Edinburgh.

Mr Offord had said 'we could tell by the photographs' that immigration had been a factor in the incident which left two people injured.

His comment was widely condemned, with Labour claiming he had used the incident 'for his own political gain', while the Greens described the remarks as 'racist'.

But when asked to apologise for the comment, Mr Offord said: “I don’t apologise for saying that. I just said it very honestly, very honestly, and then I shut it down. And then 24 hours later it was revealed to be the case in court.”

Mustafa Kokoneh, who is originally from Libya, appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Wednesday charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of assault to danger to life, breach of the peace, possessing an offensive weapon and vandalism.

The attacks were alleged to have taken place in the Wester Hailes areas of Edinburgh.

Speaking to the Times on Friday morning, Mr Offord called for an end to denominational schooling in Scotland and said that children of all faiths should go to school together.

He said he was personally opposed to the tradition of having Catholic and non-denominational schools, adding: "We don't want sectarianism."

Mr Offord suggested his opposition to religious schooling stemmed from losing contact with his best friend when he was five years old due to his pal attending a different school.

He told the Times: “That was always the strangest thing for me.

“We played football in the street and then suddenly, aged five, I went to the local primary school and he went to St Patrick’s. I never saw him again. How strange is that? How odd.

“We want everyone to be going to school together, shouldn’t we? If we are going to have a community, we should all be going to school together. With the same values, British values, Scottish values. We don’t want segregation, we don’t want sectarianism.”

Mr Offord is a former Ardgowan Primary and Greenock Academy pupil.

His comments on schooling sparked a strong response from Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe, who said on X: "Catholic schools are not sectarian.

"We don't need this man stoking division in our community. His views belong to the past.

"Over 40 per cent of children attend Catholic schools in Inverclyde because that's their parents' choice."