Graham Simpson, the MSP for Central Scotland has defected from the Scottish Conservative Party, becoming the first Reform UK MSP to sit in Holyrood since 2021.
Simpson has served as the Conservative MSP for Central Scotland since 2016, and previously served as a Conservative councillor in South Lanarkshire from 2007 to 2017.
He worked as a journalist for The Sun and Daily Record before his political career.
His defection was announced at a Reform UK press conference held by the party’s leader Nigel Farage on Wednesday morning.
In his statement, Graham Simpson said: “Leaving the party that I first joined when I was 15 is an enormous wrench and I’ve been through a lot of soulsearching in the last few weeks”.
Explaining the reason for his defection, he said: “Too many people feel let down and ignored [in Scotland], they feel the system is against them, that the traditional parties don’t even care about them”.
“I’ve joined Reform because we have the chance to create something new, exciting and lasting, that puts the needs of people over the system.”
“Scotland needs fresh thinking, new ideas, and I hope to be at the heart of helping Reform shape that offer.”
He also criticised the SNP’s impact on Scotland, which it has governed in Holyrood since 2007, saying that the pro-independence party has led to “years of failure in health, education and transport.”
Simpson said he believes that Reform can “help” to remove the party from office at the next Holyrood election due in May of next year.
Speaking on his defection, Scottish Labour Deputy Leader Jackie Baillie said: “Yet another lifelong Tory has decided to flee their sinking ship in a bid to save their own career, but it will take more than a new rosette to make Scots forget the damage Tories like Graham Simpson have inflicted on our country over the years.”
She claimed that Reform are “simply Tories by another name” and said neither party had answers to the “challenges Scotland faces”.
Baillie added: “The next Scottish Parliament election will be a direct choice between a third decade of SNP failure or a new direction with Scottish Labour.”
Graham Simpson will now serve as the only Reform MSP in Holyrood. The last Reform UK MSP, Michelle Ballantyne, lost her seat in 2021.
Simpson’s defection comes in the wake of rising Reform support across Scotland, as the party recorded their best parliamentary election result in Scotland in the Hamilton by-election in June, taking a 26 per cent share of the vote.
Simpson will be the second MSP to leave the Scottish Conservative party this week.
Jeremy Balfour, MSP for the Lothians resigning over concerns that “increasingly, decisions seem to be made by advisers who lack experience, while senior MSP colleagues are ignored”.
He will sit as Independent until the next Holyrood election in May 2026.
West of Scotland MSP Jamie Greene defected from the party in April, leaving for the Liberal Democrats.
After these losses, the Scottish Conservatives sit in the Scottish Parliament with 28 MSPs. The SNP seat 60 MSPs, Scottish Labour 22, the Scottish Green Party seven, and the Scottish Liberal Democrats five.
Reform now equal the Alba party for seats, both on one. There are four independent MSPs.
Featured image via Nigel Farage / Reform UK on YouTube
