ALISTER Jack has been labelled a “disgrace” to Scotland after a Westminster committee meeting saw him claim that “transgressions” by the Scottish Government were undermining the country’s place within the UK.
Appearing at the Scottish Affairs Committee, Jack detailed what he regarded as “transgressions” by SNP politicians during overseas visits or meetings with foreign officials which he claimed served to discourage investment into the UK and made foreign consuls feel “uncomfortable”.
The “transgressions” – which included a tweet from Nicola Sturgeon, SNP MSP Ivan McKee claiming that Brexit was a “mistake”, and Angus Robertson discussing his regret that Scotland was no longer involved in the Erasmus scheme during a meeting with a French EU minister – were dismissed as “meagre fare” by committee chair and SNP MP Pete Wishart.
Wishart asked: “We had a fall out because of this?”
Now, SNP president Michael Russell has accused Jack of being a “disgrace to the country” and blatantly engaging in the political monitoring of his rivals on the taxpayer’s dime.
“Alister Jack is already widely acknowledged to be the worst ever Secretary of State for Scotland – quite an achievement given that other contenders include Jim Murphy and Michael Forsyth,” said Russell.
“But this latest arrogant outburst shows him to be completely and vindictively intolerant of any views other than his own, even though his backing for Brexit is rejected by almost two-thirds of the Scottish population.
“It is Jack – not Sturgeon, Robertson and McKee – who is out of step and failing to speak for Scotland.
“He is a disgrace to the country – but he is also using taxpayers’ money on blatantly political monitoring of his rivals.
“That is a sacking offence and in a proper democracy he would be quickly out on his ear, not still slavering after a peerage.”
During the meeting Jack told leader of the Scottish Conservatives Douglas Ross that he had been attempting to “de-escalate” the tension with the Scottish Government but had received “a lot of push back on it and no acknowledgement of these blatant breaches”.
He said: “I’m trying to de-escalate it by working with the Foreign Secretary on the clear parameters whereby we can all work together constructively.
“But we can’t work together constructively when there’s someone in the room talking about independence or re-joining the EU or other approaches to foreign affairs – where we disagree.”
It comes after Scottish Tory MP Andrew Bowie said that Jack was doing an “impressive job” of blocking recent legislation coming out of Holyrood.
