Labour suspend North East candidate over social media posts

A candidate for Labour has been suspended by the party over claims he tried to downplay Russia's role in the Salisbury poisonings.

It follows reports that Andy Brown, who is standing in Aberdeen North and Moray East, shared an article from Russian state media outlet RT which claimed the "toxin" used in the poisonings was "never produced in Russia, but was in service in the US, UK, and other Nato states".

Dawn Sturgess, 44, died after being exposed to the nerve agent Novichok, which had been left in a discarded perfume bottle in Amesbury, Wiltshire, in July 2018.

It followed the attempted murders of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and ex-police officer Nick Bailey, who were poisoned in nearby Salisbury in March that year.

All three survived, as did Ms Sturgess's boyfriend, Charlie Rowley.

The Metropolitan Police identified three suspects wanted in connection with the poisonings: Denis Sergeev, Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga, who used the aliases Sergey Fedotov, Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov respectively while in the UK.

A spokesman for Scottish Labour said "Andy Brown has been administratively suspended from the Labour Party pending investigation.

"We have taken the decision to withdraw support from a Parliamentary candidate during a General Election.

"Anas Sarwar and Keir Starmer have changed the Labour Party and said that every candidate and MP would operate to the highest standards. This action shows that they meant it."

Mr Brown will still appear as a Labour candidate on the ballot as the deadline for nominations has passed, meaning he will stand as an independent if elected on July 4.

Also standing in Aberdeenshire North and Moray East are Ian Bailey for the Liberal Democrats, Jo Hart for Reform UK, Seamus Logan for the SNP and Douglas Ross for the Conservatives.

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