Edinburgh council sets up independent review of its handling of Cammy Day allegations

And the remit of the review was widened to include potential historic complaints against other councillors. It came as Cllr Day was stripped of several roles at a council meeting.

Cammy Day resigned as council leader in December

Cllr Day resigned as council leader in December over allegations he had sent sexually explicit messages to Ukrainian refugees.

During Thursday’s full council meeting, a report suggesting the appointment of Kevin Dunion as the leader of the independent review was supported by councillors.

The review would have originally looked solely at historic and recent allegations made against Cllr Day, and the process by which information about his alleged misconduct was leaked.

After a consensus was reached between the administration and other party groups, the review will be expanded to include allegations against all councillors from 2003 onwards.

The SNP group had originally lodged an amendment to broaden the scope of the investigation to look more deeply at the council’s process of handling whistleblowing and harassment claims, and extend the investigation beyond three months if needed.

SNP group leader Councillor Simita Kumar said: “We need to be flexible enough to extend the investigation beyond three months if this is needed. I don’t wish for this council to be accused of not being open, fair, honest or transparent.

“This amendment is not targeted at any one individual. In fact, it is pointed at all of us. I know, and I am really sorry, that my amendment may be seen as hurtful.

“If one of the alleged complainers was your own son, your daughter, your brother or your sister, and they told you that they were being sexually harassed by someone in a position of power, would you call it out? Would you report it? Or would you simply choose to ignore it?”

Much of the SNP amendment was integrated into the consensus motion agreed by the parties.

The request for a review came from a meeting of the council’s Policy and Sustainability Committee on December 10 last year.

Former Scottish Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion will lead the investigation | supplied

Mr Dunion was formerly the Scottish Information Commissioner, and now holds an ethics-related role in the Scottish Government.

Cllr Day left the meeting at the start of the discussion of the report, having earlier been in attendance remotely.

Council leader Jane Meagher said: “I would like to reiterate that everyone accepts that Kevin Dunion is uniquely placed to conduct this review. I would like at this point to thank my colleagues from each of the other groups who have come to a conclusion which leads us to this composite position.”

After the meeting, Cllr Meagher said: “I welcome today’s unanimous decision to appoint Kevin Dunion. With a huge amount of experience in ethical standards in public office, he’s very well respected and absolutely the right person to lead this independent review.

“It was extremely important that we reached a collective view today, both in terms of this appointment but also, more widely, in terms of the scope of the review. We will give Mr Dunion our full support and all the resources he needs to carry out this important and sensitive work.”

Earlier in the meeting, Cllr Day was removed from four roles, including two chair positions on various boards.

He was replaced as chair of the Edinburgh Waterfront All-Party Oversight Group by Cllr Meagher, and in the rest he was replaced by other Labour councillors.

Cllr Day kept his webcam on as Cllr Meagher briefly requested a change to the appointments motion, having earlier turned off his camera when the council leader gave her leader’s report.

Throughout much of the portion of the meeting he attended, Cllr Day looked down at his phone, occasionally fidgeting with items on his desk.

Elsewhere in the appointments section, Councillor Katrina Faccenda was removed from the Transport and Environment Committee and replaced with Labour’s James Dalgleish.

Cllr Faccenda was suspended from the Labour group for three weeks last week after abstaining on Cllr Meagher’s appointment to replace Cllr Day as council leader at the December full council meeting.