Scottish Labour apologises after leaflet included 'made-up' quote
Anas Sarwar has said sorry to a maternity campaigner after a campaign leaflet posted to thousands of homes included a false quotation in support of Labour
Last updated 8 hours ago
Anas Sarwar has apologised after Scottish Labour issued election leaflets featuring a 'made-up' quote attributed to a maternity campaigner.
The leaflets, delivered to thousands of homes across Scotland, used a photograph of Claire Fleming from Stranraer without her permission and included words she denies saying.
The quote claimed she believed “only Scottish Labour and Anas Sarwar will fix the NHS” and criticised the SNP.
'I was confused - then I was angry'
Claire, who has campaigned for better maternity services in rural Scotland for more than four years, only discovered the leaflet existed after a friend in Glasgow received one through the door and recognised her.
She has deliberately stayed politically neutral during her campaign, to try and secure support from all parties and says the leaflet risks undermining years of work.
In an exclusive interview with Forth 1, she said: "At first I was confused, because you expect political leaflets to be honest.
"Then I got angry.
"If they’ve written that out of nowhere, what else have they lied about?”
"The next time I sit round a table with different parties, will they think I’m a Labour supporter? Will they think I’m attacking the SNP?
“It adds a whole new layer to something I’ve worked really hard to keep neutral.”
She also questioned whether politicians had been using her campaign for their own benefit.
“You think you’re making progress on maternity services, then this happens and you wonder if you’ve just been used.
"Once something’s through someone’s letterbox, that’s it,” she said. “You can’t take it back.”
'Admin error'
Email messages seen by us show Scottish Labour officials have admitted the mistake, describing it as an “admin error”.
Part of the email communication reads: "Having now had the opportunity to discuss this issue with my staff I have discovered that regrettably there was a miscommunication between the member of staff producing the leaflet and the digital officer who recorded your video on maternity services.
"The video you very kindly recorded for us outlining the issues you had experienced in maternity care was securely stored in a folder on our shared drive alongside a scanned copy of the endorser release form you had completed at the time, and as such, the staff member designing the leaflet, believed you had provided permission for your image to be used for campaign purposes.
I am so sorry this was the case. Your video and release form should not have been saved in an ‘endorser’ folder but instead in a ‘case study’ folder because, as you rightly note, you were making a point about the need for better maternity services, rather than making a point in support of Scottish Labour or indeed any political party.
"In any event your image and the words associated with it should have been confirmed with you directly before they were added to any print material, and I can only apologise unreservedly that this did not happen."
The party said thousands of copies of the leaflet had now been destroyed, but could not say how many had already been delivered.
‘I don't think he took responsibility'
Claire has said she was deeply disappointed by what had happened and wanted a formal apology from Mr Sarwar.
Speaking exclusively to Forth 1 when challenged directly, the Scottish Labour leader said the issue was “news to me” and insisted he would urgently raise it with party officials.
He said that “if there has been an error, I unequivocally apologise,” adding that although he "does not design the leaflet", the ultimate accountability rested with him.
He said: "I don't know the details that you're referring to, it's the first time I've heard of it.
"But importantly on maternity services - and I think this is what matters to Claire - is we have the pulling back of maternity services in the south of Scotland which I think is very dangerous for families and for young mums and future young mums.
"That's why we will return those maternity services and protect those maternity services and it's one of the issues we're campaigning on and why we need a new direction in Scotland.
"But on the specifics, I'll need to come back to you after I've raised it with officials."
Pressed repeatedly on how voters could trust campaign leaflets if false quotes were being used, Mr Sarwar said he had "already apologised several times" and would investigate how the leaflet was produced.
But Claire says she does not believe he properly apologised.
She said: “I don’t think he took responsibility.
“He kept saying ‘if’. It felt like I wasn’t being trusted, even though his own office had admitted there was an error.”
Calls for 'proper' apology
Claire is now calling on Mr Sarwar to apologise publicly and correct the record.
“If you were happy enough to use my face and a made-up quote, you should be able to stand up publicly and say sorry.
“That’s how you rebuild trust. Right now, that trust is very low.”
She added that if the situation were reversed, the reaction would be very different.
“If it was his face on an SNP or Tory leaflet with a fake quote, there would be an awful lot to say about it,” she said.
A Scottish Labour spokesperson said: “We have been in touch with Claire directly to apologise for this regrettable administrative error.”