LABOUR has suspended a senior councillor after Scottish party leadership candidate Anas Sarwar alleged he had been the victim of racist comments.
A Scottish Labour Party spokesman confirmed it has suspended Davie McLachlan, the leader of the party's group on South Lanarkshire Council.
It comes after Anas Sarwar claimed that during the Scottish Labour leadership campaign a councillor told him he could not back him because he was a "brown, Muslim Paki".
The Labour spokesman said: "Davie McLachlan has been suspended by the Labour Party, pending an investigation."
Sarwar, who is Labour's health spokesman at Holyrood, confirmed: "I met with the party and disclosed the identity of the councillor involved. I have also provided in writing the full details of what was said to me."
He added: "It is now for the Scottish Labour Party to take the next step as regards to an investigation.
"My focus will remain on tackling the wider issues of everyday racism and everyday Islamophobia. I stress that this is bigger than any one individual or one organisation. This is about challenging the institutional prejudices that impact on workplaces, campuses and classrooms across the county."
On Monday he said: "A leader of a Labour council group told me very clearly the reason that he couldn't support me in the leadership election was that, in his words, Scotland wasn't ready for a 'brown, Muslim Paki'.
"When I challenged him on that, saying it was a racist, Islamophobic comment, he said that wasn't his opinion, it was his fear about what his constituents believe."
Sarwar lost out to Richard Leonard in last autumn's leadership contest, which was sparked by the resignation of Kezia Dugdale.
He said he did not he lost due to his ethnic background, but added that he had spoken out to raise awareness about racism and Islamophobia.
He also claimed another Labour member told him she could not support his bid after seeing a picture of his wife Furheen wearing a hijab.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel