An SNP candidate dropped over alleged anti-Semitic comments has won a Westminster seat despite the party’s withdrawal of support.
Neale Hanvey was the SNP candidate for the Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath constituency but was dropped in the run-up to Thursday’s poll after social media posts he made two years ago came to light.
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Boris Johnson does not have a mandate” to take Scotland out of the EU
Despite his suspension, Mr Hanvey’s name remained on the ballot paper next to the SNP logo as the deadline for candidates to be nominated had passed.
He took the seat from shadow Scottish secretary Lesley Laird, winning 16,568 votes to his Labour opponent’s 15,325.
Mr Hanvey, who on apologising for the comments said he did not consider himself anti-Semitic but conceded the language he used was “unacceptable”, said he has written to Jewish groups in a bid to make amends.
Speaking to the BBC before the result was declared, Mr Hanvey said he had made contact “to try to offer some reassurance that my apology is very sincere and also to help myself and others ensure that the language they use when they are talking about some of the sensitive issues is more measured”.
READ MORE: Conservatives win majority in general election as SNP vote surges
On the SNP, he said: “I’ve got a lot of friends in the party, I feel at home in the party and I hope that this does not define me as an individual.”
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said before the election that party members should not support Mr Hanvey, who is the subject of a disciplinary process, and should instead be going to other neighbouring constituencies to campaign for candidates there.
Ms Laird claimed Mr Hanvey continued to use SNP branding in his campaign despite being dropped as a candidate.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel