Reform row reignites as candidate says it is 'a shame' parents send children to faith schools
Candidate Helen McDade’s comments come in the wake of Reform’s Lord Malcolm Offord controversial comments on faith schools
A sectarianism row has reignited after a Reform candidate said it was a “shame” parents choose faith schools for their children.
Candidate Helen McDade was questioned on the issue at an event hosted by Christian organisation Logos Scotland.
Asked if the party supports religious schools, she said it is “a shame if people don’t know other people” in their community.
Her comments follow controversial remarks by the party’s Scottish leader, Lord Malcolm Offord, who proposed an end to denominational schooling in Scotland.
Lord Offord later rowed back on his remarks that “we don’t want segregation, we don’t want sectarianism”.
However, at the hustings, Ms McDade said Reform’s policy is that “we continue to have faith schools”.
However, the candidate for Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, added: “I grew up in a place where we didn't have [faith schools].
“I grew up in Thurso where everybody went to the same schools.
“I think there's a lot to be said for people getting to know each other.
“So I think it's a shame if people don't know other people who live in their same community, I come back to love your neighbour.”
In response, Scottish Labour education spokesman Paul O’Kane said Lord Offord had “falsely claimed that faith schools somehow fuel sectarianism”.
Mr O’Kane called these “appalling remarks” and added: “It is simply too late for Reform UK to attempt to row back on them now.
“The people of Scotland can see Reform for what they are – chancers and opportunists who only want to divide our country.
“Lord Offord is out of touch on the important choices thousands of Scots make for their children and the value they place on the diversity of excellent local schools.”
At the same event, Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser said his position is that Scotland should have more faith schools.
He said he would like to see the network of denominational schools “expanded”.
Mr Fraser added: “If people wanted to set up schools of other faiths, Christian schools in particular, I think the state should be looking to enable that.”
Ross Greer, Scottish Greens MSP, said that “in an ideal world” schools would be neutral on religion.
Mr Greer, who ran his high school’s Scripture union club, said Scotland’s school system reflects a history of anti-Catholic discrimination “that's still not entirely disappeared”.
He added: “We have no objective to change the reality at the moment when there's still so much anti-Catholic discrimination in particular.”
A recent survey by Logos Scotland of around 1000 Christians found more than 80 per cent had concerns about faith-based discrimination in Holyrood.
Discussing the treatment of Kate Forbes MSP during the hustings, Mr Fraser said: “There were an awful lot of people in her own party and in the commentariat saying ‘nobody with these views should be allowed anywhere near senior office…' but when it came to the public, surveys of the public suggested that they had no problem with somebody having these particular views that Kate expressed.”
Mr Greer defended his campaign against her appointment as Deputy First Minister, saying: “I obviously was somebody who opposed Kate’s candidacy for First Minister on political grounds, while absolutely defending her right to hold whatever views she wished and her right to be a Christian in public life.”
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