MALCOLM Offord demanded Holyrood bosses knock down walls to give him a double sized office, The National understands.
Following the Holyrood election, the Reform Scotland leader pushed for a bigger office in the MSP block during negotiations over office space.
A source told The National that there is “always a bit of posturing” but Max Bannerman, Reform regional MSP for the Highlands and Islands and the party’s business manager, kept pushing back on plans because “Malcolm didn’t like it”.
All six parties represented in Holyrood entered into negotiations regarding office space allocation, which is spread across several floors in the MSP block.
Emails released through a Freedom of Information request from the Scottish Parliament show Bannerman told the Facilities Management team on Thursday, May 28: “After taking soundings from the leader and his office, I’m afraid the present proposals are not acceptable to our group.”
Bannerman then put forward several alternative proposals to what had been agreed by the other parties, but these were redacted in the FOI release.
David McGill, the Scottish Parliament’s chief executive, responded: “I have discussed your party’s concerns with [Redacted]. While we can see little in the way of manoeuvre from the proposal that other parties are content with, we have identified a couple of potential initiatives that could help sweeten the position for you.”
In the email dated June 2, McGill added: “I hope that a resolution can be reached that allows your members and others to settle into their permanent offices as soon as possible.”
The Scottish Parliament did not say what “initiatives” Reform MSPs were offered.
The next day, Bannerman accepted the office allocation with “all the caveats and guarantees which you have outlined to me just earlier”.
Multiple sources told The National that the issue that held up negotiations was Offord’s request for a double office space.
It’s understood that some of the walls within the MSP block can be moved to create larger office spaces, but this does not apply to MSPs' individual offices.
A source said: "He [Bannerman] did push to redesign the building and actually knock down walls and stuff like that to try and get a double office for him [Offord].
"You can move some walls, but because it's a bespoke building, to change it like that would have cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. The office walls are almost impossible to move.
"It's the business thing, basically he [Offord] lives in a world where he is that important, so to him this is alien. He thinks ‘I'm leading a party, therefore I'm important’.
“It doesn't work like that mate.
“They were being unrealistic.”
It’s understood that negotiations were also held up because MSPs from other parties were reluctant to share office space with Reform politicians.
“Everybody else was in agreement, but Reform kept pushing back,” the source added.
It’s understood that there was also tension between Reform and the Tories over MSP office space allocation, as Offord’s party “felt they were more important because they had more MSPs”.
Following the Holyrood election, Reform returned 17 MSPs to the Scottish Parliament – tied with Scottish Labour in opposition – while the Scottish Tories returned 12.
A Scottish Parliament spokesperson said: “We treat all parties equally and fairly.
“Reform was given assurances that all of their staff would be accommodated within the space offered, along with appropriate furniture and equipment.”
Reform did not respond to our request for comment.
We told how Offord didn’t show up for any first-time MSP induction sessions in May but took advantage of the free lunches.
