Malcolm Offord refuses to apologise for ‘racist’ knife incident comments

Reform Scotland leader Malcolm Offord has refused to apologise for controversial comments he made relating to a knife attack in Edinburgh.

Speaking at an event earlier this week, he said it was possible to “tell by the photographs” that immigration had been a factor in the incident which left two people injured.

The comment was widely condemned, with Labour accusing Offord of using the incident “for his own political gain” while the Greens described what he said as “racist”.

But when asked about them at a press conference on Friday, 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 of 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.

The Reform press conference was organised to announced Offord as the party’s candidate for Inverclyde in May.

The rest of the party’s candidates will be announced on 19 March, he said. It is expected to contest all 73 constituencies in Scotland, as well as compete for list seats.

Offord was also asked about comments he made about the safety of Glasgow at night, in particular for women and girls.

He told The Times that there were “large groups of foreign men” on the streets and communities felt the area was “intimidating and less safe”.

Pressed for more information about those comments, he said the city was “not as safe as it used to be”.

He confirmed he had been out with a local group set up by parents which called itself North2South which conducts “street patrols”.

He denied it was a “vigilante group”, adding: “They’re out on the streets helping their community. It was started off because there was a feeling for women and girls, they didn’t feel safe. It’s not for me to judge that if that’s what they are saying for their community.”

Asked if he would encourage more groups like them, he said: “It’s a great shame that we have this in our society. We don’t want this in our society.

“But don’t blame the people who are trying to look after their own. Blame civic society or whoever it might be that’s in control of the system. It’s the system that’s wrong.”

He said immigrants were being incentivised to come to Glasgow by the system. “Don’t blame them, because they’re just being smart. Blame the system because the system shouldn’t be doing that, shouldn’t be creating that dislocation, and it shouldn’t be to the disadvantage of local people.”