HUMZA Yousaf has revealed he has stopped talking to Richard Leonard about Islamophobia inside Scottish Labour as he considers him so useless in tackling the problem.

The Justice Secretary said the Scottish Labour leader had “no credibility on the issue” given at least one high-profile investigation had now dragged on more than two years.  

Mr Yousaf told BBC Radio Scotland: “I have to say I’ve given up even speaking to Richard Leonard on this matter.” 

In March 2018, Labour suspended Dumfries & Galloway councillor Jim Dempster after he made an Islamophobic comment about Mr Yousaf, who was then SNP transport minister.

Cllr Dempster had referred to Mr Yousaf being invisible “under his burka”.

Mr Leonard said at the time Cllr Dempster that had “unreservedly apologised” for the hurt and offence caused, and there would be “an inquiry and a due process will be followed”.

However, despite Cllr Dempster admitting the remark, Labour has still to conclude its inquiry.

Asked about the case, Mr Yousaf told Good Morning Scotland he had no faith in Scottish Labour to act and urged new UK leader Sir Keir Starmer to settle the matter.

He said: “Richard Leonard has no credibility on this issue any more. I would urge Keir Starmer, the new leader of the Labour party in the UK, to process these complaints, to take decisive action, not just against Councillor Jim Dempster, but many others.”

He went on: “In terms of Richard Leonard, if he thinks he’s done enough and can now just pass over responsibility, and duck responsibility, then he should at the very least release all the correspondence that he sent to the UK Labour party on this issue demanding action is being action, so that we can actually judge the fact he’s made an effort.

“I have to say I’ve given up even speaking to Richard Leonard on this matter, or indeed raising it with the Scottish Labour party, because it’s clear to me that they don’t take these matters at all seriously.”

Earlier on the same show, Mr Leonard was asked about Mr Yousaf’s previously saying he should be ashamed to show his face at anti-racism rallies given the Dempster case delay. 

Mr Leonard said: “I am always happy to speak to Humza Yousaf about where we are with this case. I am frustrated as well that it’s taken as long as it has.

“It’s not clear to me why it has taken as long as it has.

“He has been suspended and does not play an active part in the Labour party or the Labour group where he’s an elected councillor.”

Pressed on a timetable for resolving the case, Mr Leonard said: “It needs to be resolved, in  my view, timeously. Look, for the life of me I don’t know why it has taken as long as it has.

“It ought to have been dealt with more speedily, but the consideration of that case rests in the hands of the party at a UK level.”

Mr Leonard then tried to change the focus of the interview back to coronavirus.

He said: “I have to say, some of these issues are a source of frustration to me, but in the end we are dealing with a national crisis where people are dying, and the effect of this pandemic ought to be the thing which is first and foremost in our discussions and debates.

“It’s what’s driving me, it’s what I’m spending all my waking hours dealing with, not with some of the internal grievance and disciplinary procedures of the Labour party.”

Mr Leonard was also asked about readmitting nine Labour councillors who were suspended from the party in May 2017 for working with the Tories on Aberdeen City Council.

Mr Leonard’s new deputy, Dumbarton MSP Jackie Baillie, and the Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray have both called for the ‘Aberdeen Nine’ to be let back into the party.

Asked why the matter had gone on for years and whether he was minded to readmit them, Mr Leonard again deferred to Labour in London: “The case of the Aberdeen councillors rests with the national constitutional committee of the Labour party. 

“There is a due process which needs to be followed and I am frustrated that it has taken as long as it has, but there is a due process which needs to be followed.

“Their case is resting with the national constitutional committee of the Labour party.”

Asked if the committee was fit for purpose given the delay, Mr Leonard said: “I am also frustrated it has taken as long as it has to get this resolved. 

“We understand that there is frustration faced by people in the Labour party in Aberdeen, members of that group in Aberdeen, but also this has wider implications too about how we go about our business as a party and it’s important that we give due process and don’t prejudice the hearings that will take place at some point in the future.”

In November, Mr Leonard admitted it was “entirely unsatisfactory” the case had taken so long, but refused to get involved, saying it was a matter for Labour’s national constitutional committee.

Asked if he ought to be involved, he said: “No, I don’t think I should be. I think it’s right there’s a separation between the political leadership of the party and political representatives of the party and those people who are directly elected to carry out those investigations.”

It prompted Mr Yousaf at the time to accuse Mr Leonard of a “complete lack of leadership”.