NICOLA Sturgeon has been urged to discipline any SNP members who campaign for a former party candidate suspended over alleged anti-semitism.
Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw said Ms Sturgeon should show “real leadership” by denying all possible support to Neale Hanvey in Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath.
Mr Hanvey, a former leader of the SNP group on Fife Council, was suspended last week after it emerged he had promoted an online article featuring a classic anti-Semitic trope.
He admitted making two “deeply offensive” social media posts, one involving a cartoon depicting the Jewish billionaire George Soros as a puppet master.
Mr Hanvey had been expected to win in Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath, where the deputy Scottish Labour leader Lesley Laird is defending a majority of just 259.
Although the Scottish Greens have attempted to fill the pro-independence vacuum, many SNP supporters have said they will still vote and campaign for Mr Hanvey.
Regardless of the SNP cutting off its support, he remains on the ballot paper as it was too late to remove him, and is still actively campaigning as an independent.
One of his supporters, Denise Findlay, subsequently quit after the party after it emerged she compared Israel to the Nazis on Twitter last year.
She had been elected to the SNP’s internal conduct committee in October.
Speaking to the media after a speech in Edinburgh today, Mr Carlaw said his party had swiftly suspended two of its candidates over alleged anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, Ryan Houghton in Aberdeen North and Flora Scarabello in Glasgow Central.
He said that, apart from Ms Sturgeon urging activists in Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath to campaign in nextdoor North East Fife, the SNP had not been as forceful in its action.
He said: “I suppose the one contrast I would draw - and this has alarmed me slightly - when I say the Scottish Conservative party has withdrawn all support from our candidates, I’ve led my party and my party had followed my leadership and we have withdrawn support for all candidates.
“I’m dismayed that in the case of the SNP, SNP activists have continued to campaign and even support the crowdfunding efforts of a candidate the SNP have suspended.
“The most I’ve heard is a little murmur of discontent from Nicola Sturgeon. She needs to show real leadership and call a halt to this and say that anyone else who’s found out campaigning for a candidate they don’t think is suitable, or someone who should be supported, will also be disciplined.”
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An SNP spokesperson said: "The SNP has shown leadership by taking tough action where the Tories have failed.
“All party support for Mr Hanvey's campaign has been withdrawn, and activists have been told to campaign elsewhere. All complaints will be dealt with in line with party policy.
"Jackson Carlaw must explain why he continues to campaign for Boris Johnson - a man who has been widely condemned for a long history of disgusting racist and homophobic comments. He should withdraw his support for Boris Johnson and apologise."
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