Scottish Tories fail to explain the reinstatement of racism row councillors
TEN questions were put to the Scottish Tories by CommonSpace following the shock reinstatement of two Stirling Councillors, suspended over racist and sectarian social media posts. None have been answered.
The Scottish Tories and Ruth Davidson have been accused by political opponants of condoning bigoted attitudes and hiding from hard questions following the party’s decision to reinstate councillors Alastair Majury and Robert Davies.
The pair were suspended by the party after it emerged that Majury had tweeted using an offensive term for Catholic people and suggested that all Catholics sexually abuse children, compared Scottish nationalists to Nazis, and denounced local food bank charity Start-up Stirling for being “run by a SNat”.
READ MORE: Ruth Davidson accused of “hiding” amid Tory councillors racism row
Davies posted a series of tweets alongside black and white photographs of a group of black people beside a cargo plane, with comments such as “keep your loin cloths with you at all times. Spears go in the overhead locker”.
The party made a brief statement on the matter on Monday, in which it confirmed that the two men had been reinstated and said it had “been made abundantly clear that behaviour like this will not be tolerated in future”.
CommonSpace spoke to a Scottish Conservative Party spokesperson today and was advised that Ruth Davidson would be unavailable for interview for “a couple of months”, but that any questions could be directed to the press office.
The following questions were put to the Tories this morning, but none have been answered.
- What procedures were followed in the investigation into Alastair Majury and Robert Davies?
- Are these the standard procedures used for all investigations into party members?
- Who was involved in carrying out the investigation and deciding its outcome?
- Was Ruth Davidson aware that the councillors were going to be reinstated and did she have a role in approving this decision?
- What were the conclusions of the investigation?
- Can you give specific details of how it has been made clear that this behaviour will not be tolerated?
- Are you concerned that reinstating these councillors could give the opposite message?
- Given Ruth Davidson’s recent statements about not tolerating Donald Trump’s attitudes, is it contradictory that people who have publicly expressed bigoted attitudes are allowed to remain as elected representatives of the Scottish Conservative Party?
- It has been pointed out that councillors may play a role in influencing the council’s anti-bullying policy. Do you have any concerns about the message sent to young people about bullying and offensive or bigoted language if people in this position of power can remain in their jobs following these comments?
- Will you take up the suggestion of Show Racism the Red Card and provide anti-racism and sectarianism education for all members to avoid future incidents of this kind?
An update will be published if the Scottish Conservatives provide a response.
Picture courtesy of the Scottish Parliament
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