NEIL Hay, the SNP candidate for Edinburgh South, used a fake Twitter account to send abuse to political opponents.
Under the account name Paco McSheeple, Hay accused political opponents of being “quislings” and mocked elderly voters for “barely knowing their own name.”
Hay had claimed that the account was old, but it had tweeted as recently as last month.
Hay’s actions were brought up at yesterday’s First Minister’s Question time by Scottish Labour deputy leader Kezie Dugdale: “In recent weeks the First Minister has had to apologise to victims of online abuse from her supporters.”
She continued: “Rather than simply empathising with the victims, she needs to show some leadership and take on the perpetrators. That starts with the sacking of Neil Hay.”
Although the First Minister refused to sack the candidate, the SNP leader did not offer him her support: “Neil Hay has rightly apologised. I think given that we face a General Election two weeks today, it is now up to the voters to decide.”
When confronted with the allegations, Hay apologised for the offence caused, rather than for the tweets themselves: “The words in these old tweets were poorly chosen and I apologise for any offence caused. They are not in keeping with the way I would express myself now.”
A poll released on Monday showed that the Edinburgh South constituency was exceptionally close, with Hay leading his Labour rival Ian Murray by only three points, with 11% of voters in the constituency undecided. In 2010 Labour won by 316 votes.
During FMQs, Sturgeon asked Dugdale to take action against Labour activist Ian Smart, who had previously tweeted that the SNP were “fascist scum.”
Earlier this month, Smart accused the Sunday Herald of being anti-Semitic after it featured a picture of Nosferatu on its front page. The tweet was later deleted.
Sturgeon said: “I would invite Kezia Dugdale, before she comes to me ... to put her own house in order first.”
Dugdale said she would look into the matter.
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