Holyrood
Reform walks out of John Swinney’s independence theatre
Scotland has an NHS to run, schools to fix, homes to build and streets to make safe. On Tuesday John Swinney gave Holyrood another independence debate instead: a motion that cannot become a referendum, timed for an SNP conference. All 17 Reform MSPs walked out.
Seventeen MSPs leave the chamber
All 17 Reform MSPs walked out of the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday afternoon rather than sit through John Swinney’s latest independence performance. MSPs were asked to agree that Scotland “is a nation that has a right to decide its own future.” Malcolm Offord, leader of Reform UK Scotland, withdrew his amendment and left with the group, including deputy leader Thomas Kerr. Reform was not elected to clap along while the SNP pretends it can deliver a referendum Holyrood has no power to hold.
The SNP could have used the afternoon to give Scots a reason to vote for them: healthcare, education, housing, the economy. Those are Holyrood’s jobs. Instead it staged theatre for its hard core, timed for conference. Offord had already tried to stop it. Before the debate began he raised a point of order: a reserved matter should not eat parliamentary time. Presiding Officer Kenneth Gibson refused. Holyrood magazine reported the ruling: parliaments may debate whatever they wish. Debate is not delivery. The Union is reserved to Westminster under the Scotland Act 1998, and in 2022 the UK Supreme Court ruled that the Scottish Parliament cannot pass legislation for an independence referendum.
“This debate is not just a farce, it is an insult. It’s an insult to the Scottish electorate who expect politicians to deal with the serious issues in their communities… Reform won’t engage further in these pointless proceedings. We didn’t come into this parliament to waste our time on vanity projects, and therefore I withdraw my amendment and we will exit from the chamber.”
Outside, he told STV’s Colin Mackay the session was a stunt for conference. Homelessness figures had come out that day. Drug death figures were due the next. Those are the arguments that win votes because they are the lives people actually live. The Herald reported that in the chamber he also pointed to what he called a £5 billion hole in the public finances, his description of the day’s business, not a manifesto costing. The published Reform line is simpler: enough of another referendum. Get on with health, education, housing and policing. Tuesday was the group acting on that, not inventing a power Holyrood does not have.
A motion that changes nothing
Swinney called it a vital question. It was a sentence. The motion was non-binding. It does not amend the Scotland Act and it does not create a power to hold a referendum. The BBC reported that it passed 84 to 18, with Labour and the Greens in favour and the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats against. Reform did not vote, because Reform would not take part. Holyrood magazine reported that the text which passed included a Green amendment noting the number of pro-independence MSPs, and a Labour amendment from Michael Marra on child poverty. A child poverty line on a reserved matter motion is still not a plan for the NHS.
| What happened | Number |
|---|---|
| For the amended motion | 84 |
| Against | 18 |
| Reform MSPs, who left and did not vote | 17 |
Westminster has already said no. The BBC reported that Prime Minister Andy Burnham would consider a border poll only if there were a clear consensus and public opinion had changed. In reply to Swinney he said no such consensus exists, and that another referendum is “off limits” while the government concentrates on the economy and the cost of living. A Holyrood motion cannot overrule that. The SNP is selling its activists a prize it cannot hand over.
Two million stayed at home. Under a million backed the separatist parties
Offord’s case rested on two sets of numbers. The first is 2014. Scotland held a referendum because Westminster and Holyrood agreed to it. The BBC reported the result as 55% to 45% in favour of staying in the United Kingdom, and Conservative leader Russell Findlay told the chamber that more than two million Scots said no. Offord, in the video below, put the Yes vote at 1.6 million and said the result was for a generation.
The second is the Holyrood election of 7 May 2026. The Electoral Commission recorded 4,320,981 people registered to vote, the figure cited in the Scottish Parliament’s own briefing. SPICe recorded 2,309,063 people who turned out. The gap is about 2.01 million people who did not vote. That is the “two million” Offord said were scunnered with Holyrood. It is an official registration and an official turnout, set side by side. It is not a claim that every non-voter backs Reform.
On the votes that were cast, the BBC election results put the SNP on 877,077 constituency votes and the Greens on 52,528, a combined 929,605. On the regional ballot the same two parties took 625,949 and 321,964, a combined 947,913. Both totals are under a million. They should not be added together: the same person can vote on both ballots. The BBC put the pro-independence share of those who voted at about 41%, down from about 50% in 2021. The SNP and Greens nonetheless hold 73 of 129 seats. That is how they still get to stage the play. It is not a mandate to break up the United Kingdom, and Holyrood could not do it even if it were.
| Count | Figure |
|---|---|
| Registered to vote | 4,320,981 |
| People who turned out | 2,309,063 |
| Did not turn out | About 2.01 million |
| SNP plus Green, constituency votes | 929,605 |
| SNP plus Green, regional votes | 947,913 |
| SNP and Green seats | 73 of 129 |
Malcolm Offord, back at his desk
After leaving, Offord recorded this from his desk. The debate was performative. The power sits at Westminster. 2014 still stands. A million votes is not a mandate to break up the United Kingdom. And two million people did not vote in May because they think Holyrood has stopped working for them.
Transcript
So, I’m just back at my desk having left the Chamber. Indeed, all 17 of Reform MSPs are back at their desk having left the Chamber this afternoon. We do not wish to waste our time debating independence debates when there are so many pressing matters for ordinary Scots around healthcare, around poverty, around education, around their economy.
This is a performative debate that should not be happening. The Supreme Court has already ruled that Holyrood does not have legislation over this, it’s a reserved matter. And this was decided in 2014. Westminster and Holyrood both agreed to have a referendum. Two million Scots voted to remain in the UK and 1.6 million to leave, and that is for a generation.
Now we’ve just had a set of Holyrood elections and the votes for the separatist parties, SNP and the Greens, are now less than a million. That’s out of 4.3 million voters. A million votes might be enough to win an election in Holyrood but it’s not enough. One million votes in Scotland is not enough to break up the United Kingdom.
And we don’t want to participate in a performative debate which is only set up because the SNP conference is coming up where he has to throw red meat once again to the audience to say he is serious about independence. If the SNP were really serious about independence, they’d have spent the last 12 years since the last referendum making Scotland ready for independence and answering the big questions on currency, on borders, on defence, on pensions, and they haven’t done that.
So the number that I am most interested in and intrigued by is that 2 million Scots did not vote in the Holyrood election in May. 2 million Scots are scunnered with Holyrood, they don’t think Holyrood is working for them to improve their lives, they think Holyrood has become irrelevant. And it’s because of these stunts, it’s because of these gimmicks, it’s because of these debates that are being had on reserved matters instead of getting on with the day job, that we’ve decided not to participate in that debate, which is why I’m now back at my desk preparing for business tomorrow.
Thomas Kerr, outside Holyrood
Deputy leader Thomas Kerr MSP said the same thing outside. Reform will not play Swinney’s game. The Tories and Labour sat through these debates for years. Reform will not. What he says about homelessness, drug deaths, migrants and veterans is his argument in this clip, reported here as his words.
Transcript
So today Reform done a mass walkout of this place because John Swinney is once again wasting our time with a pointless posturing debate on independence and we said enough is enough.
Now for 10 years the Tories sat in that building and they were irrelevant, they played to John Swinney’s ego and they let these pointless debates take place, as did the Labour party.
Reform says enough is enough. It’s time to focus on the fact that we are having a homelessness crisis in our country, the fact that drug deaths are the highest in anywhere in Europe, the fact that migrants are getting paid more money by this government than veterans. That’s the issues that we need to focus on. We need to start prioritising Scotland over strangers, that’s what Reform will continue to do.
And we will let John Swinney and his egotistical nut jobs in this building talk to themselves, because we ain’t interested. We’re working for the people of Scotland.
They wanted Reform to sit still. Reform refused
The rest of the chamber did what it always does. Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer, due up next, hoped the Parliament Arms had extra staff on. After the debate, Presiding Officer Kenneth Gibson called the walkout a gross discourtesy and, according to the BBC, “antics.” Holyrood magazine reported his complaint: Reform had not objected at the bureau or when the week’s timetable was agreed. The discourtesy was not walking out. The discourtesy was asking 129 MSPs to spend an afternoon on a reserved pantomime so John Swinney could look serious about independence before conference.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said the SNP should accept 2014, then called Reform’s walkout a silly stunt. That is the old opposition script: stay in your seat, make a speech, let the SNP keep the stage. Thomas Kerr’s point outside was that the Tories and Labour sat through these debates for years. Reform will not. Labour’s new leader, Michael Marra, backed the motion. He said there is a route to another referendum if independence becomes the settled will, and that Scotland can be fairer without becoming a separate state. His blunter line, reported by Holyrood magazine, was that the debate was about managing the First Minister’s party, not leading the country. He still voted for the theatre.
Swinney argued that people in Scotland have no guaranteed way to vote on the constitution, and that a majority of MSPs elected on a pro-independence ticket is a mandate to seek a referendum. The SNP went into May saying an SNP majority was the route. They won 58 seats, seven short of 65. With the Greens they have 73, one more pro-independence MSP than in 2021. A majority of the chamber is what they have. The legal power to hold the referendum is what they do not have. So they put on a debate, asked everyone else to take it seriously, and hoped Reform would sit there and make up the numbers.
That is the choice Reform will keep putting. If the SNP wanted Scotland’s votes it would govern: health, education, housing, the economy. It would rather feed its hard core a referendum it cannot deliver. Reform’s 17 MSPs left rather than pretend otherwise. The published manifesto line is the same one Offord and Kerr repeated into the cameras: enough of another referendum. Get on with the job Holyrood already has the power to do.
The SNP will not fix Scotland by pretending it can break up Britain. Reform walked out rather than play along.
