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A bid to register a neo-Nazi political party in Scotland has been thrown out.

An application was submitted for a new group called Scotland Awake, who use a neo-Nazi logo as their emblem.

But the Electoral Commission, who are responsible for registering political parties in the UK, refused the proposal because of “equalities” issues.

In their application, the party’s proposed descriptions were Scotland Awake The Real Nationalist Party, Scotland Awake Start Repatriation Stop Immigration and Scotland Awake Your Last Chance.

The logo submitted with the application was a white supremacist version of the Celtic Cross, called a “wheel cross” or “sun cross”.

It is used globally by white supremacists, including the Ku Klux Klan who have their own version of the design called a “blood drop” cross.

Due to data protection laws, the Electoral Commission cannot reveal who made the August

application to register Scotland Awake.

A spokesman for the commission said: “We rejected the application because we came to the conclusion that it was contrary to our public sector equality duty to consider the application further.

“That was because the commission were of the view that the constitution provided by the party as part of their application was not in accordance with equalities legislation.

“The commission assess all registration applications carefully.”

A number of new far right groups have emerged this year in Scotland. And there is growing concern UK-wide that neo-Nazis who are banned simply reinvent themselves and operate under a new name.

Unite Against Fascism said of the Scotland Awake application: “This shows that politicians banning groups has real limits as racist and far right groups just reinvent themselves with a new name.

“Politicians and some sections of the press should stop creating a climate of fear about immigrantion and Muslims. It is creating this toxic mix that provides the fuel for the far right.”

Registered political parties can stand for elections to the Scottish Parliament, the UK Parliament and the European Parliament, among others.

The attempt to form an extreme far right party in Scotland came shortly before neo-Nazi group Scottish Dawn were banned by the UK Government under terror laws. It followed an undercover investigation by the Daily Record and investigative website The Ferret.

Scottish Dawn were formed by members of terror group National Action, who were banned last December.

In August, we revealed that anti-fascist group Antifa closed down the first public meeting in Glasgow of a new far right group called Generation Identity.

Other far right groups to emerge recently include Scotland First and Vanguard Britannia, who were active in Angus.

An Ayrshire group called Last Line Resistance describe themselves as “autonomous nationalists”.

They plan to hold a March Against Marxism demo in George Square, Glasgow, on November 5.