Race row breaks out between SNP and Scottish Labour over slur
1 min read
Scotland’s Transport Minister has demanded a Labour councillor be expelled after he made an anti-Muslim remark.
The SNP’s Humza Yousaf said “only expulsion will do” after councillor Jim Dempster told him, “no one would have seen [Yousaf] under his burqa”.
Mr Dempster made the remark at a meeting on Tuesday and has since written to Mr Yousaf to apologise.
However, the Dumfries and Galloway councillor has been suspended from Scottish Labour as they deal with their third race row this year.
Mr Yousaf said he was “still furious” about the “brazen” remarks Mr Dempster made.
“I am angrier than I’ve ever been about abuse of this nature, and I’ve not been able to shake it off.
“It was the brazen nature of the remarks, which were made in front of my officials and members of the public.”
In his letter, Mr Dempster offered his unreserved apologies for a “stupid and ill-judged remark” which was not “representative” of who the councillor was.
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