The Glasgow councillor at the centre of a race row has quit Labour, saying she has been "thrown to the wolves" by the party. 

Audrey Dempsey told the Blethered Ballot podcast she was going to stand as an independent for the next three years.

Anas Sarwar's party removed the whip from the Springburn and Robroyston councillor earlier this week.

READ MORE: Audrey Dempsey denied supporting the far-right Homeland Party

That followed The Herald revealing that she had suggested, without evidence, that racist attacks against white children and teachers were on the rise in the city’s schools.

She came under more pressure on Monday when social media comments were unearthed by the National, including claims that asylum seekers were given preferential treatment over Scots.

In a further development, it also emerged that she liked a tweet erroneously claiming Humza Yousaf had given a million pounds of taxpayers cash to Hamas and another calling him the "Pakistani prime minister of Scotland."

After her suspension, a number of far-right accounts offered her support, including members of the Homeland Party, a splinter organisation of the neo-Nazi, white nationalist Patriotic Alternative.

Cllr Dempsey came under fire after it emerged that she had liked a number of their tweets.

One post liked by her read: “Those who stand for up for the natives are treated disgustingly, it’s abhorrent. @Homeland_Party stand by their candidates and don’t abandon the good people who care about their constituents.”

She also liked another user's post from Wednesday: “I reported the Scottish Labour Party and Anas Sarwar to the police for an anti-white hate crime. Thank you for standing up for your constituents in the face of these far-left thugs in power.”

Cllr Dempsey told the podcast that she had actually first called for a meeting to discuss her position within Labour on March 1, because "there had been things ongoing within the group that just didn't sit well with me".

She said a complaint she made against a colleague had been "left to fester for months and months and months".

"I'm absolutely shocked at the response. It's sad. I have to say the public, that support that I've had and the people who agree with me that it is an issue and it needs addressed that's lovely. That's really nice and I know that there is a lot of like minded people out there.

"But in terms of the council, they just don't like difficult questions."

On the posts on social media, Cllr Dempsey said she had been naive. 

"I had no knowledge of the Homeland party."

She added: "I get a notification, a Twitter comment, I've basically being going on, paying no heed, to who, what, when, where, why, just what they're saying and if they're saying they the support I'm liking it, shutting the notification and getting on with the other things I'm doing. 

"I can totally see how people would be questioning me liking that. My naivety is in full play here. I say that with my hand and my heart."

Asked how that would explain her liking the tweet about Anas Sarwar committing an "anti-white hate crime," she claimed she did not know she had liked it.

Cllr Dempsey said she had no contact with anyone in the national party.

"The leadership group in the Glasgow Labour group, I have had contact with the business manager and the leader but in terms of the national party I have not heard from anyone," she said.

Asked what the future held, Cllr Dempsey said: "I've no idea where or how it's going to go from there on in.

"I have had both positive and negative advice about going independent but I just feel I cannot be tied to a group who would be willing to throw you to the wolves the way some members in that group have.

"Suspend you without a conversation, without giving you a chance to get your side across."

"These people have a vendetta and they're going to keep this going for as long as they can," she added.

READ MORE: Scottish Labour suspends Glasgow councillor embroiled in racism row

Earlier, before Cllr Dempsey quit, Mr Sarwar told the Daily Record that he did not believe her actions were "appropriate".

He said: "They do not reflect the Scottish Labour Party. They don't reflect the views of her council group in Glasgow and that's why she's been suspended.”

He added: “I don't believe any organisation, I don't believe any country, I don't believe any community is immune from prejudice or hate, and we have a collective responsibility to root out all forms of prejudice and hate and do it by building bridges.”

Mr Sarwar was asked if Labour has a growing problem with racism. Earlier this week the party was forced to remove their candidate in Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy for liking a number of racist posts on social media.

“I think it would be an overreach to make that suggestion," Mr Sarwar said.

“The idea that a political party that's borne out of the principle of equality, that has been an anti-racist party from its inception, has led the anti-racist movement in partnership with the wider labour movement in the UK for as long as I can remember... the idea in that suggestion is just completely and utterly laughable.”

Earlier the SNP Depute Leader Keith Brown wrote to Scottish Labour's deputy, Dame Jackie Baillie to ask her to "launch an inquiry into your candidate selection and vetting process."

In his letter, he wrote: "This week, the Labour Party was forced to suspend its UK general election candidate for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy after it emerged she had shared and endorsed a long series of racist, Islamophobic and other deeply offensive comments through her social media accounts over recent weeks, months and years.

"As the person in charge of vetting candidates, questions are being asked over how you allowed someone who very publicly shared so many offensive comments, over such a long period, to become a candidate."

Responding, a Labour spokesperson said: “While Senior SNP figures are investigated by the police and cabinet ministers admit to deleting vital evidence - perhaps Keith Brown should be using the free time he now has after being sacked as his party’s general election chief to clean up house in the SNP.

“The Labour party has put in place robust due diligence processes so that candidates are of the highest calibre.

“We believe that the public have a right to know that everyone we put forward at election time is of a high standard and we will act to ensure that is the case.”