A Fife MSP was reprimanded at Holyrood on Thursday after repeatedly accusing First Minister Alex Salmond of misleading parliament.
Labour’s Helen Eadie, who is deputy convener for the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, got into trouble with Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick during a discussion about the euro.
The Cowdenbeath MSP had used a point of order to claim ”membership of the euro is obligatory for a new independent state”.
Her comments came after Mr Salmond claimed Scotland would maintain sterling on achieving independence, pending a referendum on the issue.
During heated scenes at First Minister’s Questions, Ms Marwick, the Mid Fife and Glenrothes MSP, repeatedly told Ms Eadie to sit down as the points she raised were not a matter for the parliament.
Ms Eadie also claimed there is no longer a panel of special advisers to the ministerial code following the resignation of Lord Steel and George Reid earlier this year.
She added: ”Every parliamentarian expects, and should show, honesty and integrity with any answer that they should give.
”The reality is, today, that the First Minister has either wilfully misled this parliament or has unintentionally misled this Parliament because he has said that the euro will not be obligatory for Scotland upon European membership (but) it is, upon independence being declared.”
Ms Marwick, who resigned from the SNP earlier this year to take up the impartial role of presiding officer, interrupted to say she had made her point.
She instructed Ms Eadie to sit down, adding: ”I’m sure the member did not mean to accuse the First Minister of wilfully misleading the chamber and I would ask you to reflect on that.”
The SNP leader briefly interjected to clarify that there is, in fact, a new panel of special advisers to the ministerial code staffed by former Lord Advocates Dame Elish Angiolini and Lord Peter Fraser. Their role is to consider complaints against ministers.
Ms Eadie interrupted again with a second point of order: ”Can I ask you for guidance then, presiding officer? ‘Will you go away and check for the Parliament the European Union law and its integrity, because the reality is membership of the euro is obligatory for a new independent state.”
Ms Marwick said: ”Can I repeat again, this is not a matter for the parliament, and can I ask you to reflect on the comments you made earlier in the chamber, and I would hope to hear from you at some point this afternoon in private.”
Afterwards, Ms Eadie said: ”Alex Salmond needs to realise that First Minister’s Questions should actually elicit some worthwhile answers every now and then.”