Malcolm Offord, who defected to Nigel Farage's party from the Conservatives, announced he would be standing as Nigel Farage’s candidate in Inverclyde. According to The National Scotland, Offord told an audience in Inverclyde that Glasgow 'isn't as safe as it used to be' and claimed women and girls don't feel safe on the streets after dark in Glasgow. He backed the use of voluntary 'street patrols' to help people get home at night, saying street patrol groups are not vigilantes and do not have 'an agenda'.
Offord joined a group called North2South to judge the state of Glasgow city centre at night. He said, 'Things have changed in Glasgow in the last five years. There's a lot more men from foreign lands.
They're not speaking English as their first language. ' Offord said he saw a huge number of asylum hotels in Glasgow and visited a homeless shelter where 28 out of 30 people were asylum seekers, described as single men who paid to be smuggled into England. He claimed the SNP broke the local connection rule, leading asylum seekers to believe they get a good deal in Glasgow, and said the issue is pushing out local people who can't get affordable housing.
Offord said, 'If people genuinely need help, of course we want to help them. ' However, he told LBC that it was 'absolutely not' the case that he was calling for the end to religious schooling in Scotland, and said he wouldn't seek to change the balance between faith schools and non-denominational schools. ' Specific evidence or data supporting Offord's claims about increased numbers of 'men from foreign lands' and decreased safety in Glasgow has not been provided.
The details and legality of the 'street patrols' like North2South that Offord endorsed remain unclear.