The Scottish Labour leader has been unable to confirm whether the party received previous complaints relating to Cammy Day.

Anas Sarwar cannot rule out that previous concerns about Cammy Day’s alleged behaviour were raised with Labour - with the party leader pointing to “independent complaints procedures”.

Mr Day quit as leader of Edinburgh City Council on Monday amid a police investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour and claims he sent sexually explicit messages to two Ukrainian refugees.

Mr Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, was asked by The Scotsman whether he could “categorically rule out that Labour was contacted about any concerns before the weekend”, but he was unable to do so.

Anas Sarwar was unable to confirm whether Labour received any previous complaints about Cammy Day’s alleged behaviour

Instead, Mr Sarwar said: “In all of these situations, there are independent complaints procedures. With any complaints procedure, it relies partly on people giving evidence, sharing evidence and action being taken.

“What I’m really clear about is that as soon as details were shared with me, we took that decision to suspend him immediately and now he will go through an independent investigation process both in the Labour party and I’m, of course, not going to comment on any possible police investigation.”

Asked to confirm when he first became aware of the complaints, Mr Sarwar said he was first told about the allegations on Saturday amid media reporting.

He said: “As soon as concerns were raised with me, which were the details that the Sunday Mail were going to publish, as soon as that detail was shared with me, I was very clear that he had to be suspended and he was suspended almost immediately on that day.

“So we took swift action and that was the right thing for us to do.”

Asked by The Scotsman whether he was concerned complaints could have been raised that he was not aware of, Mr Sarwar again simply said action was being taken.

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. Picture: PA | PA

He said: “You can quite clearly see swift action being taken over the last three-and-a-half years against a number of individuals.

“This is situations that have come across every political party where individuals have been caught up in either alleged inappropriate behaviour or in cases where investigations have concluded inappropriate behaviour.

“Other parties have to take their own action and we have always taken swift action whenever we have become aware of any allegations.”

Mr Sarwar told The Scotsman he has not spoken to Mr Day or any of his Labour councillors since the now former council leader was suspended by the party at the weekend.

He said: “I haven’t spoken to them personally. I know that officials have been speaking to members of the Labour group.”

The group of nine remaining Labour councillors in the capital are poised for a potential three-way battle to replace Mr Day. Deputy lord provost Lezley Marion Cameron and finance convener Mandy Watt are expected to put themselves forward, and there is speculation transport and environment convener Stephen Jenkinson could also launch a bid.

The infighting is amplified by Labour’s apparent refusal to allow group coalitions to be formed with other parties, despite the fractious make-up of the council. Before the 2022 council election, the SNP and Labour ran the city administration, with Mr Sarwar’s party accused of being against such an arrangement continuing.

Asked by The Scotsman whether he would rethink allowing a coalition with the SNP, which is the biggest party at city chambers, to be re-established, Mr Sarwar said: “It’s, of course, a matter for the Labour group who leads them and ultimately for the council to decide who should form the administration.

“We are very clear that in any such case where a Labour group seeks to form an administration, they would have to come forward to the Scottish Executive Committee the exact same way any other Labour group has had to do following the council elections with any proposal of how they would seek to form an administration.

“We would look at what that proposal is. But the principle still stands around no coalitions and seeking to form minority administrations”.

Labour finance convener at Edinburgh City Council Mandy Watt

Ms Watt has become the first Labour councillor in Edinburgh to speak out about the situation, insisting “there’s few things that I take more seriously than things of this kind”. She branded the situation regarding Mr Day as “hugely regrettable”.

“Councillor Day was quite quickly suspended from our party and therefore from our group within the council,” she said. “My group has always taken a very hard line.

“It’s been very, very difficult because I’ve always tried to work across all the party divides to build trust in our administration. I can see that this has called into question beyond anything that I could ever have imagined happening.

“All that I can say is that going forward, I and my group will be trying to continue to work strongly with all our councillor colleagues, with all council officers, for what's right for the citizens, for council staff, for the council itself.”

Exclusive:Anas Sarwar unable to rule out Labour receiving previous Cammy Day alleged behaviour complaints

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