Minister dismisses hate-comment apology

TRANSPORT minister Humza Yousaf has rejected an apology from a Labour councillor over religiously motivated hate comments.

Dumfries and Galloway councillor Jim Dempster said he was “deeply sorry” for the remark, adding he had visited a local mosque and had asked for further diversity training.

Mr Yousaf, however, dismissed the visit as an “tokenistic photo op” as he repeated calls for the councillor to quit – adding he had now received “correspondence to suggest that Cllr Dempster’s Islamophobic slur was not a one-off”.

Mr Dempster has already been suspended from the Labour Party pending an investigation into his comment, which was made a week ago.

In a meeting with Transport Scotland officials, the councillor said if Mr Yousaf had visited the region, “no-one would have seen him under his burka”.

Mr Dempster said: “I fully accept my comments were totally unacceptable. I am deeply sorry for the offence I have caused and I offered a full and immediate apology.

However, Mr Yousaf said on Twitter: “I again call on him to do the honourable thing and resign.”

He added: “I have received correspondence to suggest that Cllr Dempster’s Islamophobic slur was not a one-off. [Scotlab] must show that they truly have a zero tolerance approach to hatred & expel Cllr Dempster.”