Scottish Labour embroiled in new racism row

Scottish Labour found itself embroiled in a new racism row today after a Facebook account linked to a local party branch claimed “there is no such thing as Islamophobia”.

Anas Sarwar claimed he was barred from giving evidence to a formal probe into his claims of racist comments made by a party colleague

The social media page, branded as being the online home of Labour’s Argyll and Bute branch, shared an image which also suggested Islam was “responsible for more terror attacks than any other”. The image was captioned: “Any disgareement with this meme?”

Scottish Labour said the Facebook page was unofficial and that it was investigating who was behind it.

The image shared claimed: “There is no such thing as Islamophobia. It is the right of every individual to question a religion which claims to be peaceful, and yet is responsible for more terror attacks than any other.

“In the Islamic world, women are treated as second class citizens and bound by ancient laws that have no place in a modern world. If anything, Islam has a phobia about anything not Islamic.”

The post comes just days after Scottish Labour was criticised for its handling of a racisim complaint made by senior MSP Anas Sarwar.

The former leadership contender claimed last month that he was “barred” from giving evidence to a formal probe into his claims of racist comments made by a party colleague and branded the process “not fit for purpose.”

Mr Sarwar claimed that Labour councillor Davie McLachlan told him he could not support his leadership bid because “Scotland wouldn’t vote for a brown Muslim P**i”.

Mr McLachlan has insisted the allegations are “false” and an internal Labour disciplinary process found there was no case to answer.

The Glasgow MSP said he was given just four days notice of the National Constitutional Committee (NCC) hearing into his case in April.

When he arrived to give evidence he was told he could not appear as he had not provided two weeks notice of his intention to provide testimony.
“I was asked to leave and was unable to provide any evidence,” he said.


“The UK Labour NCC panel subsequently ruled that there was no case to answer without any verbal evidence being taken.”

It had taken over 15 months for the NNC to hear the case. Labour leader Richard Leonard later voiced concerns about the party’s disciplinary procedures as a result of the case.