“DANGEROUS clown” Nigel Farage has doubled down on a “racist” campaign ad targeting Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar as he tours Scotland, just days before Thursday's by-election in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.

The Reform UK leader used visits to the constituency and to Aberdeen to pledge to scrap the Barnett formula, under which Scottish public services receive funding that is around £2,000 per person higher than England.

He also renewed his support for his party’s campaign advertisement that falsely accuses Mr Sarwar of promising to “prioritise” people of south Asian heritage.

In a message to voters considering a vote for Reform UK, SNP First Minister John Swinney, who has branded the ad “racist,” said: “I understand how they’re feeling, because standards of living have not improved.

“Don’t take the risk of importing divisive politics into our country, because it’s far too important for all of us to stick together.”

Also on the campaign trail, Mr Sarwar said: “The chief clown Nigel Farage finally found his way to Scotland and showed just how totally out of touch with our country he is.

“Nigel Farage turned up, admitted he can’t win the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election and pledged to cut funding for Scotland’s NHS and public services.

"Nigel Farage is a dangerous clown, and the people of Scotland see right through him.”

But Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) candidate Collette Bradley hit out at Labour for enabling the rise of Reform UK, arguing: “It's criminal that Starmer has not only opened the door to this extreme version of racist Toryism but reinforced and normalised their divisive language and scapegoating, as [ministers] spend billions on war, not welfare and wages.

“The SSP is determined to offer hope, not hate-filled despair.”