ANAS Sarwar has insisted that a Scottish Labour Westminster candidate's "racist" Twitter posts only happened after she was selected to represent the party.
After speaking at the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) annual congress in Dundee on Monday, Sarwar told The National that Scottish Labour has a “robust due diligence process” for selecting Westminster candidates.
It comes after Wilma Brown was suspended from Labour on Wednesday after it was found that she had engaged with “racist, Islamophobic, and transphobic” tweets.
Brown was selected as a candidate for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath in April 2023.
She was found to have liked tweets which were dated after her selection as a candidate, with the activity only coming to light several months later.
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It is unclear whether Brown interacted with similar tweets before her selection, which may have been flagged by Scottish Labour’s vetting system. She has deleted her Twitter account, making it impossible to check.
Defending Scottish Labour’s actions, Sarwar said the party acted quickly to suspend Brown from running once they were made aware of the behaviour.
When asked whether Scottish Labour had a problem with Islamophobia, Sarwar said no institution was “immune” from prejudice and hate.
“We obviously had two very specific situations,” Sarwar said, pointing towards a Scottish Labour councillor – Audrey Dempsey – who was suspended after making “racist” remarks on Twitter/X.
READ MORE: International Muslim group distances itself from Scottish Labour MP
“We took swift action in both of those cases. It came to light on the Tuesday night, [Brown] was suspended on Wednesday morning.”
He continued: “We have a robust due diligence process for our Westminster candidates and the issues that came to light around the likes of tweets by Wilma Brown came after she was selected rather than predating her selection.
“We expect the highest standards from all our candidates and we won't be afraid of taking swift action if we have to.”
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