Reform wins 15 seats at Holyrood

Reform UK has won its first seats in a Scottish Parliament election.

The party, led by Malcolm Offord in Scotland, has secured 15 MSPs in regions across the country.

Reform narrowly missed out on having a constituency MSP elected, losing in Banffshire and Buchan Coast by just 364 votes to the SNP.

Nigel Farage's party, which is hoping to establish itself as Holyrood's second force, has also made gains in elections in England and Wales.

Reform has previously had two MSPs, both of whom defected from the Conservatives.

Never before had the party won Holyrood seats in an election.

While Reform did not win any constituency MSPs, they had more success in the regional ballot.

Whoever wins the most votes in each constituency is elected as the MSP. But the regional MSPs are elected using a different voting system which is designed to ensure the overall make up of the parliament is more representative of how the country voted.

Leader Malcolm Offord - who was beaten by the SNP in Inverclyde - was elected to Holyrood via the West region list, as was David Smith.

Helen McDade and Julie MacDougall won Reform's first seats in the Mid Scotland and Fife region, followed by Angela Ross in Edinburgh and Lothians East, and Duncan Massey and Mark Simpson in the North East.

The party won a further five seats in South Scotland and Glasgow.

In the Central Scotland and Lothians West region also saw three MSPs elected.

Reform has pledged to push for tax cuts, a reduction in state spending and tougher action on immigrants.

The Scottish campaign proved eventful, with former Tory peer Offord hitting the headlines for announcing during a debate that he owned six houses, six boats and five cars.

He was also repeatedly quizzed about controversial comments made by his candidates, and a crude joke he made about the late George Michael at a rugby club dinner in 2018.