Labour councillor Willie Young in hot water after sending offensive 'autism' tweet
The Scottish National Party (SNP) has demanded that Labour takes action against a councillor from Aberdeen who made "offensive" and "hurtful" remarks on social media regarding one of his opponents, whose child suffers from autism.
Councillor Willie Young, who is Aberdeen City Council's finance convener, publicly accused SNP MSP Marc McDonald of using his autistic son and his family for political leverage.
Young said of McDonald that he was using his family as "political tools" regarding a state of the art school for children with learning difficulties.
The Twitter exchange happened last week but has since been brought to light after Young faced a social media backlash.
McDonald has been campaigning to raise awareness for autism since his son was diagnosed with the infliction in 2011.
@markmcdsnp is going on about Autism. SNP in Abdn closed down Raeden School then opposed our plans for new state of art school. Unbelievable
— William Young (@youngwd1) December 7, 2014@markmcdsnp @KeithLorelei opposed it i feel sorry for his wife & family using them as political tools. some people never learn family sacred
— William Young (@youngwd1) December 7, 2014McDonald has written to Labour council leader Jenny Laing to express his dismay at Young's comments, and demanded that she take disciplinary action againtst Young.
A Scottish Labour Party spokesperson has since said: "The content of Twitter messages from Councillor Young are his responsibility and a matter for him to comment on."
Young has apologised on Twitter for his offensive remarks, but McDonald has said that his apology is not enough.
Councillor Young has not apologised directly to me. The time for an apology was yesterday when he was asked if he stood by his remarks (1/3)
— Mark McDonald (@markmcdsnp) December 9, 2014Not only did he stand by his remarks yesterday, he went further and said more than he did in his original tweet on Sunday (2/3)
— Mark McDonald (@markmcdsnp) December 9, 2014While an apology may be a step in the right direction, Labour locally and nationally have a responsibility to take appropriate action (3/3)
— Mark McDonald (@markmcdsnp) December 9, 2014© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.
