A Scottish Labour candidate at the next general election has been suspended pending an investigation into social media posts she liked and shared.

Wilma Brown, the candidate in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, deleted her account on X – formerly Twitter – when the posts came to light.

Ms Brown was not accused of posting controversial materials, but was seen to like and share a number of posts criticising First Minister Humza Yousaf and the Scottish Government’s stance on gender recognition.

A spokesperson for the party said: “The Labour Party takes all complaints seriously.

READ MORE: Labour extends lead over SNP in latest YouGov poll

“They are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate action is taken.”

It is understood she has been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation.

Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath is one of Labour's top target seats in Scotland.

The SNP won the seat in 2019 with Neale Hanvey elected as the MP. Mr Hanvey was himself in controversy ahead of the 2019 election and was dropped after allegations of anti-Semitism were made against him.

READ MORE: Who are the Scottish Labour MP hopefuls?

READ MORE: Part Two: Who are the Scottish Labour MP hopefuls?

However, the SNP withdrew all support for the former councillor's candidacy, saying he had been suspended pending disciplinary action. He was officially the party's candidate as his suspension came too close to polling day for paperwork to be changed.

Mr Hanvey said he did not, in any way, consider himself to be anti-Semitic and was "genuinely and deeply sorry".

He had shared a post on Facebook in 2016 which included an image of billionaire George Soros as a puppet master controlling world leaders.

Mr Hanvey had his suspension lifted after the election and later defected to Alba.

He took the seat off Labour's Lesley Laird with a 1,243 majority in December 2019.

SNP depute leader Keith Brown earlier said that Ms Brown, who had campaigned with party leader Sir Keir Starmer in her constituency, should be dropped as a candidate.

“The appalling tweets endorsed by the Labour Party candidate for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy are deeply offensive, racist and completely unacceptable,” he said.

“Wilma Brown is clearly unfit to be a candidate at the general election.

“Sir Keir Starmer must sack her immediately and explain why she was ever selected given her long and very public history of endorsing deeply offensive comments.

“This is a candidate who Keir Starmer has personally endorsed and visited to campaign alongside. He must explain how this was allowed to happen.”

Ms Brown is a former theatre and anaesthetic nurse and longstanding Unison activist.

She also sits on Unison's UK health service group working at UK level in developing policy, terms and conditions for staff and issues relating to devolution in a partnership arrangement with NHS employers and government.

She was an employee director of NHS Fife from 2009 until she recently stood down. Ms Brown helped roll out the Covid vaccine programme in her health board area and served as a board member and chair at The Cottage Family Centre in Kirkcaldy.

She has been involved in the setting up of The Big Hoose Project which repurposes surplus goods to families affected by the cost of living crisis.