The first woman of colour elected to Aberdeen City Council says she has “lost confidence” in the ability of Scotland’s standards commission to crack down on “casual racism.”

Labour’s Deena Tissera spoke out last October after she was branded a “New Scot” by a SNP councillor during a heated debate over council funding.

A year later, the Labour councillor now says an expected report into the comments by the Ethical Standards Commissioner is long overdue. 

“The delays are disappointing,” she noted. “People like me suffer from casual racism everyday. The Commissioner must move this investigation forward or resign.”

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Amidst an intense discussion, Kairin van Sweeden remarked: “I realise as a New Scot, Councillor Tissera maybe doesn’t know about the mitigations that the SNP government have had to put in over the years since they have been in power.”

“For example, the bedroom tax — maybe you are not aware of the bedroom tax — that started a long time ago.”

Originally from Sri Lanka, Tissera told The Herald that the comments implied she was “less competent” because of her place of birth. Tissera, who moved to Scotland thirteen years ago, was elected to Aberdeen City Council in 2022. Last June, she became a British citizen.

“I’ve had a long career in politics,” Tissera said. “I started at the grassroots level with student politics, and helped build a national organisation.”

While lively debate is welcomed, there should be “no place” for “personal attacks”, she opined.

Kairin van SweedenKairin van Sweeden Remarking that politicians have “weaponised immigrants” with increasing regularity, Tissera questioned the use of the term ‘New Scot’ to describe her experiences in the UK.

“The term ‘New Scot’ is used in the constitution for asylum seekers,” the Labour councillor said. “Not everyone who comes to this country is an asylum seeker or is in need of charity. I class myself as an economic migrant.”

van Sweeden said at the time: “I unreservedly apologise for the clumsy language I used in the chamber and the offence it caused.

“It could not be further from the values I hold.”

The environmental campaigner and economist, who resigned her SNP membership after then-First Minister Humza Yousaf criticised her remarks, pledged to refer herself to the Standards Commission. 

However, eleven months later, the independent regulatory body has yet to publish their findings.

“Bringing the report forward is the number one thing,” Tissera said. 

“I’ve lost confidence with the Standards Commission, a year later and it hasn’t finished investigating.”

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The first-term member contends that the incident has underscored the need for increased diversity among council staff, including those at the highest levels of the local authority. 

An analysis of Aberdeen City Council’s leadership structure suggests that no people of colour are employed at the chief officer level or above.

“Breaking glass ceilings is cool,” Tissera noted, “but building bridges is necessary.”

Speaking to The Herald, van Sweeden said she was confident that the investigation had been carried out in the “expected time frame.”

The independent councillor added: “I have been in touch with the Standards Commission and their investigation is still ongoing. I expect to hear more by the end of October.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Ethical Standard Commissioner said: “We are required to treat complaints confidentially and therefore cannot give any further details at this stage.”

The spokesperson added: “The Commissioner has asked me to confirm that he takes all complaints seriously and that a number of variables can have an impact on the time taken to conduct and conclude investigations by his office.”

According to the Commissioner, the average complaint against councillors takes ten months to process, investigate and resolve.