Visitor with Fascist links at Scottish Parliament

MSP Neil Findlay has been demanding to know why a foreign politician with Fascist views was invited to speak at the Scottish Parliament last week.

The Labour man was reacting to the the invitation of Andriy Parubiy, the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, to Holyrood.

MSPs were asked to welcome Mr. Parubiy at the beginning of the weekly First Minister’s Questions session on Thursday, most of the MSPs were unaware of his affiliations in Ukraine.

Mr. Parubiy founded the Social-National Party of Ukraine in 1991 a far right fascist party that only accepted ethnic Ukrainians as members and led its paramilitary wing accused of racist attacks.

The name of the party was a deliberate allusion to the National Socialist (Nazi) party of Germany during the Third Reich.

The party also used the wolfsangel symbol as its own, an explicitly neo-nazi symbol.

Mr Findlay said: “Andriy Parubiy clearly holds despicable political views and it is unacceptable that MSPs were urged to applaud his presence in the Scottish Parliament.

“People holding fascistic views, with contempt for democracy should not be lauded by the Presiding Officer or anyone else.

“We need an urgent review of how and why Mr Parubiy was invited to the Scottish Parliament, and by whom.

“We must quickly establish a mechanism to ensure this never happens again in the future.”

The Parliament has since promised to take action to that end.