Scottish Labour has axed a candidate who taunted a party MP over her Catholic faith.
Vanessa Shand also accused the SNP of wanting to impose a “catholic monarchy” and backed a former soldier who was charged with murdering civilians on Bloody Sunday.
She withdrew as a council candidate in Perth and Kinross after a Record investigation into her comments.
Shand used to have a ‘I Stand With Soldier F’ twitter logo, which refers to the former paratrooper who was charged over his role in the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry in 1972.
Thirteen civil rights demonstrators were killed when members of the British Army's Parachute Regiment opened fire.
Soldier F faced murder charges over the killing of two people, James Wray and William McKinney, plus multiple counts of attempted murder.
The charges were dropped after the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) concluded there was "no longer a reasonable prospect" of key evidence against him being ruled admissible in court.
The Saville Inquiry, set up to get to the bottom of the tragic events, stated that there was "no doubt" Soldier F had shot father-of-six Paddy Doherty, who was unarmed.
In a separate tweet, prompted by Labour MP Rebecca Long-Bailey praising Jeremy Corbyn over the Northern Ireland peace process, she wrote: “Says the daughter of NI catholic parents.”
Shand, whose Facebook page says she stands for “fairness, equality and justice”, also tweeted in 2015: “So that’s the SNP’s game! They want to replace the UK monarchy with a catholic monarchy!! Well I never."
A member of Scottish Labour’s governing executive at the time made a complaint about the Twitter activity in 2020.
It stated: "The Saville Report demonstrated comprehensively that those killed at Bloody Sunday were wholly innocent and that the Parachute Regiment was responsible for their unlawful killings.
"Perhaps more worryingly still, she has demonstrated a pattern of prejudicial behaviour towards those of the Catholic faith."
The complaint added: “These tweets will cause grave offence to Catholic supporters and potential supporters of the Labour Party, and this is particularly true for those of an Irish background, and is therefore arguably grossly detrimental to the Labour Party."
An SNP spokesperson said: "It’s welcome news that Vanessa Shane is no longer a candidate but it's important that Scottish Labour reflect on how she ended up one in the first place.
"It’s clear that Scottish Labour is desperate to find local council candidates but it should not mean that principles are an afterthought.
"Anas Sarwar's party's recent track record with deeply divisive candidates demonstrates that there is a problem running through Scottish Labour that needs to be addressed.”
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “Every Scottish Labour candidate is expected to abide by our values - especially with regards to opposing forms of prejudice or hatred.
“The Scottish Labour Party will act on evidence that any candidate has fallen short of these standards.
“The person in question is no longer a Labour candidate.”
Her removal comes after Henry Dunbar, previously a leader of the Orange Order, was revealed as a Labour candidate in North Lanarkshire.
Shand said of the soldier logo: “I absolutely hear where you are coming from on this one, however there are two sides to every story. And I felt I just wanted to support him because I am of the veterans’ community.”
She said of the Long-Bailey tweet: “Yes, I did, and it probably wasn’t one of my greater moments in life.”
On the “catholic monarchy” tweet, she said: “Well, there it is in black and white. These have been looked at by others and not deemed as significant and so, yes, again, not one of my finest moments.”
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