Scotland's Ukip MEP Tears Into Alex Salmond In Spectacular Tirade

This Is No Ordinary Rant About Salmond, It's From A Ukip MEP
Counting in the European elections started at 17:00 on Sunday 25th May. Pictures from the results being announced at the City Chambers, Edinburgh. David Coburn, UKIP lead candidate, gives his first interview as an MEP. Sunday, 25th May, 2014. Wullie Marr/EMPICS
Counting in the European elections started at 17:00 on Sunday 25th May. Pictures from the results being announced at the City Chambers, Edinburgh. David Coburn, UKIP lead candidate, gives his first interview as an MEP. Sunday, 25th May, 2014. Wullie Marr/EMPICS
Wullie Marr/EMPICS Entertainment

Alex Salmond is a "racist" who wants to fill up Scotland with "anyone except the English," Ukip's first and only MEP in Scotland has claimed.

David Coburn, who gave this colourful assessment of the first minister in an impassioned plea during a debate in central London, also accused Salmond of leading a "fascist" party and having a vision for the country that would make East Germany "look positively benign."

Coburn, who became Ukip's first Scottish MEP when he was elected in May, told an audience at the Lansdowne Club that the SNP had a "dirty wee secret they would rather you didn't know."

"They emerged from fascism in the 1930s," he went on. "Quite frankly, the way they behaved in the referendum, terrifying people, bullying people, frightening people, is very much fascism of the 30s."

Coburn said that the SNP's new child welfare laws to have every child in Scotland watched by a state-sponsored "named guardian" was "terrifying", and "worthy of Goebbels and Stalin". "That means a Stasi spy in every home in Scotland," he added.

"Alex Salmond and his chums want something that is terrifying and that would make the DDR [Democratic Republic of Germany] look positively benign and I want nothing of it."

The Ukip MEP also savaged the SNP government's decision to arm police with Glock automatic pistols.

"Why would police need Glock automatic pistols in Invernaver or in the Highlands," he said. "Are they expecting a Jacobite rebellion? What exactly are they for? It's not exactly filled with Afghan Warlords, although Mr Salmond is doing his very best to make sure it is."

Coburn aimed particular vitriol at Salmond over his immigration policy, saying: "The reason why they have to import immigrant labour to Scotland is because so many young Scots leave because nobody wants to be told 'you are an evil person because you want to make money'.

"Salmond is not offering independence. He is offering rule from Brussels politically and rule from Frankfurt on the money side. He's not interested in Scottish independence. This is an exercise in extreme socialist economics.

"If he was interested, why does he want to fill the country up with people from other nations except the English? Anybody can come to Scotland, unless you're English. If that's not racist, what is?"

Glaswegian comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli, speaking in support of the Yes campaign, poured scorn on Coburn's attack on the SNP, saying: "For Ukip to call the SNP fascists when we don't tend to refer to people from Cambodia as Ting Tongs or think that we have bad weather because of homosexuality is genuinely one of the funniest things I have ever heard."

Singh Kohli went on to attack the "fetishisation of unanswered questions" surrounding what would happen if Scots vote for independence.

"There's no reason that we can't go ahead as an independent beacon of centre-left thinking," he said. "Independence is Scotland's birthright, we're not creating a nation, we're restoring a nation."

SNP MSP Christian Allard told the Huffington Post UK that Coburn's "ludicrous and offensive" remarks show "why the anti-independence campaign is so damaged by its association with UKIP".

He added: "Every time UKIP politicians speak, they simply remind people in Scotland that the only threat to Scotland's continued place in the EU comes from a No vote and the prospect of Scotland being dragged out of Europe against our wishes.

"Things are going from bad to worse for the anti-independence campaign as polls show more and more people are waking up to the opportunities of a Yes vote and today's outburst will only add to the No camp's headaches."

In response, the pro-unionist Better Together campaign declined to comment as "UKIP aren't part of our campaign."

Speaking to the HuffPostUK after the debate, Coburn unsurprisingly revealed that he would not join Salmond's "Team Scotland" working to thrash out a on independence if there is a Yes vote in the referendum.

"I'll be leading the campaign for another Act of Union, as within six months of Scotland gaining independence, there'll be a financial catastrophe," he said.

Coburn has previously told the Huffington Post UK that Salmond acted like a "prototype dictator" and "master of the Borg".

He also said his party "doesn't do media training", quipping: "Our media training is we go to the pub." The outspoken MEP did not deny that some Ukip members have said controversial comments, adding: "We can always rely on our lunatic fringe to say something silly. Nigel says it's like herding cats!"

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