Labour MP’s brutal response to Nigel Farage – ‘your hissing snake oil can be rejected’
It came after Reform UK posted a video of Nigel Farage warning of the ‘cultural smashing’ of Glasgow, claiming one in three children ‘do not speak English as their first language’
A Labour MP in Glasgow has responded to Nigel Farage, saying the Reform chief’s “hissing snake oil” will be rejected by the city.
It came after Reform UK posted a video of the leader of the right-wing outfit saying one in three children in Glasgow “do not speak English as their first language”.
He ranted: “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?”
But in a response, the Labour MP for Glasgow South West Dr Zubir Ahmed, posted on X: “I was one of those kids. I’ve gone on to serve my country as a transplant surgeon, MP and minister. Glasgow has plenty of challenges, but your hissing snake oil Putinist fifth column politics will be rejected.”
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The Scottish Labour MP Torcuil Crichton added: “Like, who wouldn’t want their kids to have two languages.”
Official figures from the Scottish government in 2024 show 29% of 71,957 school-aged pupils in Glasgow did not mark English as a “first language”. But among the 20,711 pupils who do not record English as their first language, 11,381 pupils can speak English competently, fluently or are developing competence.
Just 3,299 said they were “new to English” while 6,100 said they were at an “early acquisition” stage. The majority of pupils – 50,184 – had English recorded as a first language. Mr Farage did not mention the breakdown in his short video clip.
After Mr Farage first made the comments last week, Keir Starmer told journalists the Reform boss was a “divisive disgrace”. He also told the BBC that Farage was “only interested in the politics of grievance” and “pulling communities and societies apart”.
Mr Starmer added: “I’m very proud that in Scotland we have communities that are compassionate, reasonable, diverse of course, and I’m very proud to serve all of the communities in Scotland and I don’t look to pull those communities apart.” Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar also said: “How dare [Farage] use Glasgow’s kids to spread his poison.”
