Friday March 20th 2026
Scottish Parliament
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Sarah Hilley
Glasgow’s two Reform councillors have been chosen to run for the party in the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections.
Former Labour councillor Audrey Dempsey has been announced as the MSP candidate for Glasgow Easterhouse and Springburn.
Her fellow party colleague Thomas Kerr who defected from the Conservatives will stand as the Holyrood candidate for the Glasgow Baillieston and Shettleston seat on May 7.
Councillor Dempsey quit Labour in April 2024 after a row when she claimed that “racist attacks on white children and teachers” had been rising in schools across the city.
The mum and founder of the charity Glasgow’s No 1 Baby and Family Support Service sat as an independent councillor for Springburn and Robroyston for more than a year before joining Reform in August, 2025.
Commenting on her nomination to represent Reform in the upcoming election, Councillor Dempsey said it is time to “let a working class woman” take the reins.
She told the LDRS: “I am, and always will be, working class. Not by slogan. Not by strategy. By life. I was raised in the north east of Glasgow, and I still live there today. I walk the same streets, use the same services, and face the same pressures as the people I’m asking to let me represent them. I don’t need briefings to understand the issues, I live them every single day.”
She added: “I know what it’s like to worry about bills, to see families struggling, to watch opportunities pass our communities by and deprivation grow through our streets like a virus. I’ve spent years on the frontline supporting tens of thousands of people through hardship, crisis, addiction and inequality. Not from a distance, but shoulder to shoulder. “Despite everything our communities have faced, we’ve had the same voices in power.”
Councillor Dempsey continued: “For me this isn’t about playing politics. it’s about delivering results. It’s about having representation that actually understands, actually listens, and actually acts. It’s time for the tried and failed to step aside. It’s time for a different kind of leadership. It’s time to let a working class woman, one of the community’s own ,take the reins and show them how it’s done.
“My kids and grand kids are my world, like every bodies are and I need to pave the way to a better for future for the youths. We owe them that and I am up for the challenge.
“I’m thrilled at having the opportunity and hope the public can have the faith in me that I do in them because I know that together, we can make our community safe, positive and empowered again.”
Councillor Dempsey became the second Reform councillor in Glasgow City Council after she defected last year.
She joined Shetteston local councillor Kerr who had joined Reform after leaving the Conservatives in January 2025.
His switch to Nigel Farage’s party made national headlines and came to light as the council’s city administration committee meeting was under way.
Councillor Kerr was removed from a number of council committees following the announcement.
The Reform candidates were announced yesterday at Bishopton, Renfrewshire the party unveiled its manifesto.
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