"It's fair to say that some of you won't be surprised to see me here, given that the Scottish Tories have been touting my name as a potential defector for months now. So today, I'm giving them what they want, but perhaps not for the reasons that they think. Leaving the party that I first joined when I was 15 is an enormous wrench, and I've been through a lot of soul searching in the past few weeks."
"He is the second MSP to leave the party's Holyrood group in the past week. Simpson becomes Reform's sole current MSP. Michelle Ballantyne sat as a Reform member at the Scottish Parliament from January to May 2021, having left the Conservatives the previous year and sitting for a short spell as an independent. She lost her seat at the May 2021 election."
Graham Simpson left the Scottish Conservatives and joined Reform, appearing at a press conference in Broxburn, West Lothian alongside Reform leader Nigel Farage. Simpson has represented the Central Scotland region as an MSP since 2016 and is a former journalist with The Sun and Daily Record. He described his departure from the Conservatives as an "enormous wrench" after extensive soul-searching and acknowledged that his defection had been anticipated by some. His move makes him Reform's only current MSP. Michelle Ballantyne previously sat for Reform at Holyrood from January to May 2021 but lost her seat at the May 2021 election.
Read at www.bbc.com
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