REFORM’S Lord Malcolm Offord has been branded a “chancer” during a fractious leaders’ debate ahead of May’s Holyrood election.

The event featured SNP First Minister John Swinney and four challengers for his job: Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer, the Liberal Democrats’ Alex Cole-Hamilton and Lord Offord, who leads Reform in Scotland.

Televised by the BBC on Sunday night, the debate was marked by frequent interruptions as the prospective MSPs clashed on issues such as immigration, the NHS and a Scottish government budget deficit that is forecast to grow to almost £5 billion by the end of the decade.

Lord Offord claimed that people were “just arriving from nowhere who paid a lot of money to come here illegally with people-smugglers, arriving and getting to the front of the queue and putting real pressure on public services.

“I am afraid that is not Scottish and it’s not fair.”

Taking a swing at the Nigel Farage appointee, Mr Swinney responded: “I think the rhetoric is inflammatory and I disassociate myself from all of it.”

Mr Greer branded Lord Offord a “failed Tory minister,” adding: “He is an absolute chancer.

“He was part of that failed Tory government. The former leader of Reform in Wales is currently doing a 10-year jail sentence for taking Russian bribes. They are not the answer to any of the challenges in Scotland.”

Mr Sarwar, who has been a target of Reform advertising branded “racist,” added: “He spent tens of thousands of pounds questioning my loyalty to my country, Scotland.

“And when he did that, yes, he attacked me, but he attacked anyone from a migrant background in this country.

“Scotland has seen his type before and rejected them, and I’ve got no doubt they’ll do the same again.”