The Scottish Conservatives are facing calls to rule out any Nazis or former Nazis standing as council candidates in next year’s local elections following the selection of a former neo Nazi as a Conservative candidate in England.

The issue has arisen after Joshua Bonehill Paine, who was previously jailed for posting antisemitic material ahead of a planned neo Nazi rally and later imprisoned again for racially aggravated harassment of former Labour MP Luciana Berger, was selected to stand for the Conservative Party in local elections in England.

According to the source material, both Luciana Berger and the Board of Deputies of British Jews have called for his candidacy to be withdrawn, but those calls were rejected by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch.

The SNP is now calling on Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay to make clear that no Nazi, former or otherwise, would be permitted to stand as a Conservative candidate in Scotland’s council elections next year.

Commenting on the issue, SNP MP Seamus Logan said:

“It is astonishing that the Tories will stand a former Nazi in England and we cannot allow this to happen here Scotland.

“There is a very simple question, will the Scottish Tories stand Nazi candidates in the Scottish Council elections next year?

“Russell Findlay must join calls to remove this convicted antisemite as a candidate and confirm if any of these Nazi types come calling at his door to stand in Scotland, he will in under no circumstances allow it.

“There can be zero tolerance on antisemitism and Russell Findlay must be absolutely clear on this.”