UKIP leader Nigel Farage will visit Edinburgh today as part of a plan to build on electoral gains in England and start winning in Scotland.
The party, which wants Britain to leave the European Union, has no representation north of the border and polled just 0.91% of the total vote across the regions in the last Holyrood election in 2011.
Mr Farage is expected to take part in a private fundraising dinner, accompanied by party treasurer Stuart Wheeler, following a press conference in the Scottish capital this evening.
Earlier this week Mr Farage, a member of the European Parliament, said: “We are growing in Scotland and have every intention of winning seats both at Holyrood and in next year’s European elections north of the border. A fantasy? Not in the slightest.”
The party plans to make a start by contesting the Aberdeen Donside seat at Holyrood, made vacant by the death of SNP MSP Brian Adam last month.
UKIP’s candidate is Otto Inglis, a barrister who runs his own business in Edinburgh.
The party’s 2010 general election manifesto pledged to replace the 129 MSPs with Scottish MPs.
The parliament would be retained but on a part-time basis with MPs spending just one week a month on “devolved business” in Edinburgh and the rest of the time in London.
English MPs would sit on “English-only days” to give people south of the border a more distinct parliament, the party argued.
UKIP also proposes downgrading Holyrood’s power, arguing that all UK citizens should be entitled to equal treatment in health, education and public services.
The party picked up 147 county council seats in England and Wales earlier this month, a gain of 131.
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