Anas Sarwar ‘confident’ all Scottish Labour candidates behaving ‘appropriately’

Anas Sarwar has insisted he is “confident” all Scottish Labour candidates in next week’s General Election are “behaving appropriately” as the betting scandal widened.

The party leader spoke out after Labour south of the border was forced to act against a candidate who had placed a bet against himself.

Kevin Craig has now been suspended by Labour after after it emerged he had bet that he would lose to the Conservatives in the contest for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.

Meanwhile, Scotland Secretary Alister Jack – who is not standing again in this election –  confirmed he had placed bets on the date of the General Election.

Mr Jack denied having broken any rules, but said he put three wagers on the timing of the July 4 poll, one of which he won.

But with a Labour candidate having bet against himself, Mr Sarwar made clear he was not aware of any similar behaviour by the party’s Scottish candidates.

He said Mr Craig’s behaviour was “completely unacceptable”.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, he said: “That is a participant in an individual contest who made a bet on that individual contest, which is not acceptable, which is why he was stripped of his candidacy and why any donations he made to the party have been immediately returned.”

Asked if he could guarantee no Scottish Labour candidates would become embroiled in the election betting scandal, Mr Sarwar said: “Absolutely. I am confident that our candidates are all behaving appropriately and acting appropriately and spending their time doing what they should be doing, talking to the voters, persuading them of our positive future, rather than looking at betting odds.”

Pressed on whether any of his party’s candidates had placed bets, he said: “I’m not aware of any bets being placed.

“I think it is important to stress the difference between those that will place bets on a flutter, like when they are watching the football, watching the horseracing, things like that, compared with those with someone who has inside knowledge.”

He continued: “I’m not aware of any bets. Of course we have made it very clear to our candidates that they should be spending all their time speaking to voters, persuading them of our positive alternative, our future and the opportunity to get rid of the Tories that they can’t miss. That is what they should be focused on.”

Meanwhile, in a statement released late on Tuesday, the Scottish Secretary made “absolutely clear” he had “not breached any gambling rules”.

Mr Jack said that in March he placed two unsuccessful bets on the date of the General Election of £5 for a poll to be held in May and June respectively, then made the third wager in April.

He added: “As I have said previously, I placed no bets in May and am not under investigation by the Gambling Commission.”