SCOTTISH Labour’s deputy leader Jackie Baillie has written to the SNP asking them to prevent MP Patrick Grady from campaigning in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election.
The SNP Westminster parliamentarian was seen campaigning for the party in the South Lanarkshire constituency on Wednesday.
Grady apologised in Parliament after being found to have acted inappropriately towards a party staffer.
He had the SNP whip restored in December following a six-month suspension.
Baillie wrote to Humza Yousaf and SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn on the matter.
She said: “Mr Grady’s behaviour clearly fell well below the standard required of MPs and will have caused concern among many members of the public.
“While I understand that you have seen fit to allow such a man as Mr Grady to regain the SNP whip, I am sure that a great many Scots – including his accuser – may find his continual presence in frontline politics a source of distress.
“Today I am asking you both to consider preventing Mr Grady from representing the SNP by appearing at doorsteps in Rutherglen and Hamilton West, and to re-examine your failure to properly deal with his behaviour.
“In an area currently experiencing a by-election due to the misconduct of another SNP MP, I am sure that you understand that the presence of a disgraced SNP politician on their doorstep sends a message to the people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West that their needs are secondary to the SNP’s political self-interest.”
An SNP spokesperson said: "Patrick Grady made a serious error of judgement in 2016 and has since apologised.
"The independent parliamentary complaints process concluded that an apology, alongside a time-limited suspension, was the appropriate course of action. The SNP Group in Westminster applied the same sanction whilst the SNP suspended Mr Grady."
