Badenoch Slams Farage, Unionist Rift in Scottish Election

0:00On April 16th, Kimmy Badanak, the conservative party leader, just slammed Nigel Farage as a straight opportunist who flips on unionism. This comes after Farage told Scottish Nationalists to ditch the S&P and back reform UK in the Holyrood election on May 7th. He even called a future second independence referendum, reasonable if the issue heats up again. Earlier this week, Farage pitched reform to genuine Nationalists who opposed the UsNips EU dreams. Meanwhile, Badanak hit back in Edinburgh, saying only her party stands firm as center-right unionists. She accused reform of telling crowds whatever they want to hear, like voting both ways on the two-child benefit cap in one day. Conservatives are sweating hard, fearing reform will siphon tens of thousands of their votes. Polls show S&P poised for a big win, maybe even a majority, with leader John Swinney eyeing an independence push by 2028. But UK Labour says no way to that referendum. Reforms Scottish boss, Malcolm offered, doubled down by refusing to block Swinney as first minister in a tight vote.

1:06He called reform the challenger party, not teaming with Labour or others to stop S&P. That leaves anti-independence folks scrambling as reform could snag ten or more seats and hold the balance. Some senior Tories, like ex-Scottish secretary David Mundell, are now pushing tactical voting to crush S&P hopes, defying Badanak's call to stick. Conservative, with the election looming, this unionist rift could reshape Hollywood's power plays for years.