Two people who claim they were racially abused by a Labour councillor are "haunted" by the experience, the transport minister has said.

Humza Yousaf, who has spoken to the two individuals who have made fresh claims against Jim Dempster, says the alleged abuse is amongst the worst he has heard.

Dumfries and Galloway councillor Dempster is currently suspended from the party amid an investigation after he admitted making an Islamophobic comment about Yousaf to two of his civil servants during a meeting.

One of the accusers says the councillor chased her around his shop with an air freshener saying she smelled of curry, and called her names over a ten-year period.

Another member of the public said he endured "ten years of hell" and suffered racist taunts whenever he entered the premises.

The councillor has denied the latest allegations made against him.

In an interview with STV News, Yousaf said they "are amongst the most horrific examples of racial abuse I've ever heard".

"Haunted. That was the word one of the victims used to me," he said.

"They tried to suppress ten years of constant racial abuse they've had to suffer, suppressed that, didn't want to think about it, but when they saw Councillor Dempster's face in the papers and in the news they felt they had to speak out.

"Because it was not a one off, his Islamophobic slur to me was not a one off.

"They are feeling empowered to an extent but also having to relive those experiences."

Yousaf repeated his call for Labour to expel the councillor.

In a statement, Dempster said: "The language and behaviour alleged does not represent me, or how I conducted myself.

"This can easily be borne out by visiting the local community and seeking their views.

"Members of the local Muslim community in Upper Nithsdale are keen to speak to the media and describe me as the man they have known for many years.

"I very much hope that the media take up this offer in the pursuit of fairness and justice.

"The report in the Daily Record alleges that I verbally abused a brother and sister in a village shop that I ran while they were growing up in Sanquhar in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"I have checked today, and it is a matter of public record that I did not purchase the shop until May 1991.

"This must call into question the veracity of the allegation."

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard told STV News: "James Dempster remains suspended and these [new allegations] will be included in the investigation we are now carrying out."

Leonard said he is "angry and impatient" for the party and wider Scottish society to change, "but due process" must be carried out.