Labour post fuels racism furore amid party probe

Scottish Labour has found itself embroiled in a new racism row after a Facebook account linked to a local party branch claimed “there is no such thing as Islamophobia”.

The social media page, b r a n d e d a s b e i n g t h e online home of Labour’s Argyll and Bute branch, s h a r e d a n i mag e t h a t also suggested Islam was “responsible for more terror attacks than any other”. The image was captioned: “Any disagreement with this meme?”

Scottish Labour said the Facebook page was unofficial and that it was investigating who was behind it.

T h e i m a g e s h a r e d claimed: “There is no such thing as Islamophobia. It is the right of every individual to question a religion which claims to be peaceful and yet is responsible f or more t error attacks than any other.

“I n t he I slamic world, women are treated as second- c l a s s c i t i z e ns a nd bound by ancient laws that have no place in a modern world. If anything, Islam has a phobia about anything not Islamic.”

The post comes just days after Scottish Labour was criticised for its handling of a racism complaint made by senior MSP Anas Sarwar. The former leadership contender claimed last month he was “barred” from giving evidence to a f o r mal p r o b e i n t o h i s claims of racist comments made by a party colleague.