Labour suspends Edinburgh council leader over claims 'sexually explicit messages' sent to Ukrainian refugees

The Edinburgh City Council leader has been suspended by his own party Labour over allegations that he sent “sexually explicit messages” to Ukrainian refugees.

Police have said they were conducting enquiries into the allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” by Councillor Cammy Day.

Senior councillors and officials, and former council chief executive Andrew Kerr, who retired earlier this year, are said to have been interviewed by police over the matter.

Edinburgh City Council leader Cammy Day

Cllr Day is alleged to have sent "sexually explicit messages to Ukrainian refugees who believe he abused his position of power", The Sunday Mail reports.

The newspaper spoke to two Ukrainians who said they received messages from Cllr Day, saying they felt unable to ignore his unsolicited approaches. Some of the messages were sent through a dating app.

One of the Ukrainians told the newspaper they felt “under pressure” when he messaged them on the app, saying they tried to ignore his hints about sex and meeting up.

It is now understood the council leader has been administratively suspended by Scottish Labour pending the outcome of any investigation.

A party spokeswoman said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously. They are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate action is taken.”

There are now mounting calls for Cllr Day to resign as leader of Edinburgh council, from opposition groups within the local authority.

Cllr Kevin Lang, leader of the Scottish Lib Dems group on the council, posted on X: “These are exceptionally serious allegations. Given this, it is clear to me that Cammy Day must step down as Leader of Edinburgh Council immediately.”

Cllr Simita Kumar, who leads the SNP group, posted on social media saying the allegations around Mr Day were “beyond shocking” and he should “resign immediately”.

A council spokesperson said: "All matters raised with the chief executive and monitoring officer have been progressed through our established processes in consultation our independent whistleblowing service, Safecall, and, where appropriate, Police Scotland."

The party suspension comes after The Times reported on Friday that two complaints about Cllr Day were made to the council's Safecall whistleblowing hotline last winter. The newspaper said the content of the complaints was not known, but they were passed to police by Mr Kerr and Nick Smith, the council’s head of legal.

The newspaper reported there was deemed to be insufficient evidence to mount an investigation into the complaints and the police did not "consider it proportionate" to speak to Cllr Day.

The Times said another complaint had been made to the police six weeks ago and it was understood officers received "new information, but no new evidence" of alleged misconduct.

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “On Tuesday, October 22, 2024, we received a report of inappropriate behaviour. Enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”

Cllr Day has not commented on the allegations on Sunday, but has previously said he does not know what the police investigation related to, adding he has not been contacted by police officers.

The councillor for Edinburgh’s Forth ward is one of Scottish Labour’s most prominent local authority leaders, occasionally appearing with Anas Sarwar at events.

He had previously been deputy leader of Edinburgh city council when Labour were in coalition with the SNP in the city.

The SNP reacted with fury when a deal was struck allowing Mr Day to run a Labour minority administration following the 2022 local elections – despite the SNP being the largest party on the council.