Reform's Scottish leader says he owns six houses, six boats and five cars

Reform UK's leader in Scotland has been called "entitled" after telling a Holyrood election debate that he owns six houses, six boats and five cars.

Malcolm Offord made the comment as he clashed with Scottish Green co-leader Ross Greer.

SNP leader and First Minister John Swinney, Labour's Anas Sarwar, Conservative leader Russell Findlay and Lib Dem chief Alex Cole-Hamilton also took part in the STV broadcast.

The debate, at the Signet Library in Edinburgh, came little over a week before Scots head to the polls on 7 May.

Offord, a former banker who previously served as a Conservative minister in the UK government, has a life peerage - though he stepped back from Lords when he defected to Reform.

He told the STV debate: "I went to London 40 years ago with £2,000 of debt.

"Full of ambition, I worked hard and I was successful. Today, I own six houses, five cars and six boats.

"In a 40-year business career I've employed hundreds of thousands of people and paid £45m in tax."

"Fewer people like you," the Green co-leader replied.

"I'm glad you've finally admitted how many homes you have, Lord Offord."

Greer said there were far more second homes and empty homes than there were homeless children in Scotland.

He told Offord: "You don't need six homes, you don't even need two homes, everyone just needs a home to live in.

"Surely if we're to tackle the housing emergency, the super super-rich elite individuals like you should be giving up some of those homes so people who desperately need a roof over their head actually have somewhere to live."

Offord said the Green manifesto was "extremist", arguing it offered "the land of milk and honey".

Greer replied: "We would tax people like you to pay for it."

The Reform chief insisted his party would "unleash Scotland's potential" by growing the economy.

Sarwar, referencing Offord's comment about his boats, houses and cars, called him "entitled".

The Scottish Hospital Inquiry is looking into the design and construction of the QEUH in the wake of deaths linked to infections since it opened in 2015.

Raising the case of 11-year-old Milly Main, who died after contracting an infection at the complex, Sarwar said his party would deliver the "truth and justice" families deserve if he becomes first minister.

Sarwar said he had demanded answers from former first minister Nicola Sturgeon five years ago, but relatives still had unanswered questions.

Swinney said the inquiry launched by his government would provide the answers families were seeking.

Facing criticism of his record in government after almost 20 years of SNP rule in Scotland, Swinney said he was "proud" of his party's achievements – citing the expansion of funded childcare, economic growth, levels of literacy and numeracy, falling NHS waiting lists and improvements to transport.

A favourite theme for leaders throughout the campaign has been talk of "grubby deals" between parties.

That is because if no party wins a majority next week, the next first minister will have to rely on rivals either supporting them or abstaining on a vote to nominate them as Scotland's leader.

He said the SNP had "failed" - and that his party would reform social care to fix the NHS and introduce an emergency £100m package to help Scots with the cost of living.

However, he revealed that his party would be willing to negotiate budget deals with the SNP, having backed the previous two Scottish government tax and spending bills in return for concessions.

Cole-Hamilton told the debate that voters would expect parties to come together in a parliament of minorities to agree a budget. He added: "We will act like grown-ups. We will get things done."

During his questioning of Tory leader Russell Findlay, Swinney claimed the Tories could allow a "useless" Labour government to take charge at Holyrood.

Findlay responded: "What I am not prepared to do is inflict another five, miserable, wasted years of a John Swinney SNP government."

He added that his party would lower taxes, cut welfare spending and get Scots out of poverty by providing good jobs.

Analysis: Reaction from the debate

The STV leaders' debate was the last televised set piece of the election at a point in the campaign when many voters are just waking up to the fact that they have the opportunity to cast a ballot in little over a week's time.

Those of us who've been watching the campaign since the beginning have heard many of the arguments and the policies outlined during the debate several times before.

Indeed there were groans from the watching journalists as the politicians repeated some of their best rehearsed lines.

But those at the event in the Signet Library sat up and paid attention when Malcolm Offord of Reform UK admitted he owned more boats than cars.

His party colleagues say it wasn't a deliberate strategy, he was just being honest.

However, it's the public whose opinion matters.

I was sitting next to the pollster Mark Diffley in the spin room, who was telling me that the more people get to know the politicians, the less they like them.

"Give them better than this" appealed the host, STV's Political Editor Colin Mackay, as the all-male panel repeatedly talked over each other as they outlined their policies to improve the NHS and tackle the cost of living crisis.