The Rutherglen MP has challenged a local Restore account after it criticised his congratulations to Sagal Abdi-Wali.
Michael Shanks has rejected an attack on his welcome for Labour's newly elected MP Sagal Abdi-Wali, responding sharply to a social media account calling itself Restore Rutherglen.
The Labour MP for Rutherglen had congratulated Abdi-Wali on Friday, saying she would be a fantastic MP and that he looked forward to her arrival in the Commons.
The Restore account then criticised him for what it called celebrating 'our replacement'. Shanks responded on Saturday with a blunt dismissal of the message.
He also challenged the account over why so few of its members were comfortable showing their faces. The exchange followed Labour's victory in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election.
Abdi-Wali was elected on Thursday 8 October to represent the constituency. Shanks's weekend response reaffirmed his welcome for his new parliamentary colleague in the face of the account's hostile reaction.
