A councillor previously accused of racism by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has been put forward as a candidate in the May elections. 

Davie McLachlan will stand again in Hamilton North and East after he was cleared by the UK party. 

During the 2017 leadership contest for the party, Mr McLachlan allegedly told Mr Sarwar that the country was not ready for “brown, Muslim p***”, according to reports by The Times. 

Richard Leonard won the 2017 contest before Mr Sarwar defeated Monica Lennon to become leader of the party last year. 

Mr McLachlan was suspended for 15 months after Mr Sarwar raised a complaint about the incident, however an internal investigation has since cleared the councillor. 

The councillor has again been selected as a Scottish Labour and Co-operative Party candidate for Hamilton North & East.

The Labour Party's national executive committee readmitted McLachlan to the party after finding there was "no case to answer" in 2019. 

He had spent more than a year as an independent councillor before the ruling. 

At the time, Mr Sarwar had said he was disappointed with the outcome. He said:  "I have consistently said that this isn’t about one individual.

He added that he was "disappointed with the process and outcome"

A Scottish Labour spokesman said: “Every Scottish Labour candidate is expected to abide by our values — especially with regards to opposing forms of prejudice or hatred.”