NIGEL Farage’s anti-lockdown party is being urged to sack a candidate running for the Scottish Parliament after he was found to have interacted with “dangerous and racist” views on social media.
Andy MacMillan, who is the Reform UK Scotland prospective parliamentary candidate for the Glasgow region, liked tweets comparing the First Minister to a Nazi.
The candidate liked an image of graffiti reading “Kim Jung SSturgeon Sshe Liess” – a reference to the SS, the paramilitary organisation that protected the Nazis. In another post MacMillan wrote: “Nicola Sturgeon needs to be put in a cell. A padded cell.”
Another tweet he liked featured a second Nazi reference, stating: “This country is turning into a banana republic in front of our very eyes under Herr Sturgeon.”
READ MORE: Scottish Tory MSP hopeful associating with 'dangerous Covid conspiracy theories'
The National also found MacMillan had used his official candidate account to like a post stating: “’Myanmar overtaken by undemocratic repressive junta’ – Nicola Sturgeon: ‘Hold my beer’.”
The SNP have told the party’s leader in Scotland, Michelle Ballantyne, to sack MacMillan “without delay”.
Kaukab Stewart, the SNP candidate for Glasgow Kelvin, said: “This is a deeply troubling indication of the appalling calibre of candidates that Reform UK attracts. These views are dangerous and have no place in Scotland.
“Andy MacMillan should not be endorsing these comments. This is not the behaviour of a serious parliamentary candidate.
“It is particularly shocking that he appears to be making light of the extremely grave situation in Myanmar, which is simply unacceptable.
“Michelle Ballantyne and Reform UK should sack Andy MacMillan as a candidate without delay.”
Reform UK Scotland – formerly the Brexit Party – has now unveiled eight candidates to stand on the lists in May’s Holyrood election.
LETTERS: Ex-Tory MSP Michelle Ballantyne deserves ridicule for her Reform UK role
As well as spreading anti-lockdown and anti-mask messaging, other candidates have shared controversial claims about the SNP since activating their accounts last week.
Alan Melville, a former Ukip candidate running in the Lothians region, retweeted a post suggesting the SNP want to carry out a new “Scottish Clearances”.
In response to a tweet suggesting people in Shetland or Orkney who want independence from Scotland should move to England, a user wrote: “Well we had the Highland Clearances. Maybe the Nationalists are trying a modern Scottish clearance. How very forward-looking and progressive of the SNP.”
On February 21, Melville retweeted this.
John McCallum, running in the West Scotland region, responded to the same post saying: “The Germans had similar opinions in the 1940s and we know how that turned out.”
Meanwhile David Kirkwood, a candidate in the South Scotland region, was found to run a blog and YouTube channel called The People’s Democratic Republic of South Lanarkshire in which he repeatedly called for a Yes vote ahead of the 2014 independence referendum.
READ MORE: John Curtice says Nigel Farage's Reform UK WILL split Unionist vote
In one post the Moffat-based scientist wrote that he is “unflinching” in his belief that “there is little demonstrable benefit to Scotland of her membership of the United Kingdom”. He even shared a photograph of his postal vote, with a cross in the box beside Yes.
One of the explicit aims of Reform UK Scotland is to “demonstrate the critical role Scotland plays in Britain as well as the benefits to Scotland of the Union”.
Reform UK did not respond to The National’s requests for comment.
Meanwhile, yesterday a study found supporters of Reform UK are the most hesitant among voters about taking the Covid-19 vaccine with just 53% of them backing getting the jag.
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