Scottish National party leaders expect Labour to hold one of its key target seats after the SNP’s candidate was sacked for posting antisemitic material online.
Neale Hanvey was dismissed as the SNP’s candidate for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath last week after he admitted making two “deeply offensive” antisemitic posts about the financier George Soros and Israel’s policies towards Palestinians.
A group of senior SNP officials went to Hanvey’s campaign office in Kirkcaldy last Friday morning to clear out all the party’s campaign materials, cutting off his access to canvassing data. Hanvey is still contesting the seat, as a pro-independence candidate, and has continued to use SNP campaign videos.
Hanvey’s refusal to step down has split the SNP and independence movement in Fife, and has blown up into one the most serious disciplinary crises since Nicola Sturgeon became its leader. Because Hanvey was removed after nominations closed, there is no SNP candidate standing in the seat.
“It’s not great; this is a bloody minefield,” said one senior party figure. “But it’s crystal clear with this or allegations of any type of racism or sexism, that we have to show leadership. We can’t afford not to.”
The SNP had been widely expected to take the seat from Labour, two years after losing it to Lesley Laird – a prominent ally of Jeremy Corbyn, who appointed her shadow Scottish secretary – by 259 votes. Labour is averaging 18% in the polls in Scotland, putting it on course to lose nearly all the seven seats it won in 2017.
Despite offering unreserved apologies last week, Hanvey has since retweeted complaints that the SNP’s deselection decision was unjustified. He told an election hustings in Kirkcaldy on Tuesday he was a victim of “call-out culture” because he had attacked “atrocities” by Israeli troops on Palestinian civilians.
His critics claim the SNP and Hanvey should have instead officially endorsed the Scottish Green party’s candidate, Scott Rutherford, to improve the chances of a pro-independence candidate defeating Labour.
An experienced pro-independence campaigner and former SNP councillor, who asked not to be named, said the Hanvey case had caused “a vicious fight within the SNP. [The] SNP has thrown away this seat. Lesley Laird’s vote had collapsed and Neale Hanvey was a shoo-in.
“The SNP should have backed the Scottish Green candidate instead and we would’ve beaten Labour.”
Other activists claim Hanvey has been victimised because he criticised the campaign by transgender rights groups to be allowed to self-declare and use single-sex facilities.
The crisis deepened this week after one of Hanvey’s prominent supporters resigned from the SNP after she was challenged over a tweet where she claimed that describing Israel as a Nazi state could not be defined as antisemitic.
The activist, Denise Findlay, had been elected in October to the SNP’s conduct committee which is due to rule on whether Hanvey should continue to be a party member. “The views she expressed are entirely at odds with the ethos of this party,” an SNP spokesman said.
Findlay told the Courier newspaper she was “profusely sorry” for making remarks hurtful to the Jewish community.
Hanvey’s supporters claim he has significant support in the party and in the constituency after he raised £6,150 in campaign donations in three days from 215 donors.
Jim McIntosh, 56, a pro-independence activist staffing Hanvey’s campaign office, said local people had said “absolutely nothing” to them about the antisemitism controversy since it came to light last week.
Their primary concern was NHS funding, McIntosh said. He was sure Hanvey would win. “I know the town and I know the people.” There has been “nothing but support for him from these constituents.”
Rutherford said: “I’m disappointed that some people in the pro-independence movement haven’t coalesced behind us. We’re the only pro-independence party standing now in Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath.”
