ANAS Sarwar is facing fresh calls to drop a former Orange Order Grand Master after he was selected as a Scottish Labour candidate for May’s council elections.

Henry Dunbar, who served as Orange Lodge chief from 2010 to 2016, has been confirmed as a candidate in Airdrie North.

Anti-sectarian organisations Show Racism the Red Card and Call it Out have condemned the move, with the party said to have “opened its doors to the ex-leader of a deeply divisive organisation”.

In a BBC interview on Sunday, Sarwar refused to condemn the organisation, adding: “I don’t choose the candidates, local parties do.”

That has prompted the SNP to demand that the Scottish Labour leader overrule the local party organisation.

MSP Collette Stevenson said: “In Anas Sarwar’s desperation to find candidates for the local elections, he has thrown out all principle and opened his arms to an ex-leader of a deeply divisive organisation.

“It simply beggars belief that Scottish Labour think this is appropriate, but it shows how far they have sunk. Anas Sarwar must immediately drop Henry Dunbar as a candidate for the council elections – the politics of division have no place in Scotland.

“Words and actions matter, and Anas Sarwar should show some leadership by showing zero tolerance to hatred and bigotry and ditch this candidate.

“As long as Scottish Labour continue to side with the Tories and support Westminster control over Scotland then they will continue to slide into irrelevance in Scotland – the selection of a former Orange Order leader demonstrates how desperate they are.”

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Sarwar was grilled about the selection during the Sunday Show on BBC Scotland.

Asked directly if the Orange Order – which insists it is not anti-Catholic – “promotes the sort of inclusivity and tolerance that you’re promoting”, Sarwar said: “I don’t choose the candidates, local parties do.

“But what I expect of every single candidate, regardless of their background, is for them to abide by Labour Party values, Labour Party principles and that includes a zero-tolerance on all forms of prejudice or hate."

Speaking at Scottish Labour's conference in Glasgow on Sunday, he added: “He has the support of his local party. I expect him to abide by those values and I would hope that not only does he abide by those values, but he expresses horror and outrage at any form of prejudice or hate, and that’s what I would expect from all of our candidates.”

Call It Out, a group dedicated to challenging anti-Catholic discrimination in Scotland, said Labour “can no longer speak credibly on bigotry, hatred and inequality” as a result of the selection.

A spokesperson for Show Racism The Red Card added: "We stand against anti-Catholic and anti-Irish bigotry in all its forms, and we call on all prospective council candidates to take action to educate their communities on the damage that hate can cause."