Friday August 29th 2025
Councillor Cammy Day
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Joe Sullivan
Former council leader Cammy Day has been welcomed back to an Edinburgh Council meeting as he appeared in person for the first time since his resignation in December 2024.
The Labour councillor stepped back after reported claims he sent sexually charged messages to Ukrainian refugees staying in the Capital.
He was suspended from the party soon after, but was readmitted in June after a police investigation found no evidence of criminality, and a party investigation had cleared him.
Cllr Day now sits as a Labour councillor, having represented Forth ward as an independent since his resignation.
At Thursday’s full council meeting, Cllr Day was sat in the centre of the Labour benches, a row behind council leader Jane Meagher and next to transport convener Stephen Jenkinson.
And the council. leader said she welcome him back, and urged colleagues to do the same.
Cllrs Day and Jenkinson were seen laughing together and whispering to one another during the early part of the meeting.
Cllr Day also faced allegations over inappropriate behaviour in 2018, but a complaint was not taken forward at that time.
In the June meeting, the Dunion report, an inquiry into the investigations carried out against Cllr Day in recent years, was discussed.
The report found that complaints about his behaviour had been ‘inadequately’ addressed in past.
And it also found issues with a ‘culture of hospitality’ at the council, including drinking parties in the city chambers.
At today’s meeting SNP councillor Kate Campbell asked the council leader about the allegations discussed in the Dunion report, and if she had reflected on their impact on his alleged victims.
Cllr Meagher replied: “The purpose of the Dunion report wasn’t to look into Cllr Day’s behaviours, but to make sure we as a council have the procedures in place to deal with such issues.
“I’m also aware that any allegations contained in the Dunion Report have had no opportunity to be rebutted or defended in any way.”
“I think that Cllr Day’s actions have been investigated very thoroughly and in lots of different ways, including by the police, including by the Labour Party, extensively and over a long period of time.
“I also understand that Cllr Day has made an apology through the media for any unintended consequences or any upset that has been caused.
“And I personally take the view that, unless we want to continue an unseemly witch hunt of an individual, it is my view is that Cllr Day has come back to fulfil his obligations as a democratically elected member.
“And as such, I am very much welcoming him back.”
SNP councillor Danny Aston challenged Cllr Meagher on if she would rule out giving the Liberal Democrats the leadership of a committee, in exchange for letting Cllr Day run one.
Cllr Meagher refused to engage with the question, telling Cllr Aston: “I don’t accept the premise of your question, and consequently I don’t intend to answer it.”
Around midday, Cllr Day left the meeting, and rejoined via Microsoft Teams.
Fellow Labour councillor Katerina Faccenda, who said at June’s full council meeting that a ‘drunken tirade’ from Cllr Day at a Christmas party had left her in tears, did not vote with the rest of her group during votes on third sector health and social care funding and on whether to hold a piece of business in private.
In the first instance, she voted with the SNP and Green groups, while in the second she voted with the Greens.
Cllr Jenkinson, who serves as the Labour whip, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It’s very disappointing that Councillor Faccenda chose to not vote with her colleagues in the Labour group on agreed positions.”
He also said: “Councillor Day has been democratically elected on the role as a city councillor for Edinburgh.
“He’s been welcomed back after a full investigations into allegations of behaviour by the police and by the Labour party.
“It’s important that councillors perform their democratic role by being part of full council.”
Cllr Day recently stood in for council leader Jane Meagher in an official capacity, at a meeting in Edinburgh with representatives of a Taiwanese city.
Along with Labour councillor James Dalgleish, Cllr Day met with 26 city councillors from the city of Kaohsiung, which the Capital had previously pursued a ‘friendship agreement’ with.
Works towards the agreement were scrapped in 2024, as tensions with China – which does not recognise Taiwan as an independent country – worsened.
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