Alex Salmond is to record his weekly radio phone in show live from Holyrood.

The former First Minister, who is still an MSP, has secured the use of Global Radio facilities inside the Scottish Parliament to record his LBC talk show.

Mr Salmond, who has developed a string of outside interests since stepping down as First Minister including a lucrative newspaper column and book deal, may miss part of a crunch budget debate to fulfil his media duties.

A spokesman for Mr Salmond said: “Alex Salmond’s phone-in takes place on LBC each Wednesday from 4pm.

“The station’s boast is ‘Leading Britain’s Conversation’ – last week Alex was leading Europe’s conversation from Strasbourg, this week he’s leading Scotland’s conversation from Holyrood. It’s likely that future weeks will see the show broadcast from even further afield.

“Alex looks forward to receiving calls on the big stories of the day from listeners throughout the UK and beyond.”

Meanwhile, Mr Salmond has courted home-rule supporters in the Basque Country as he continues his post-indyref international charm offensive.

It came as he accepted a prize from the Iberian nation's regionalist rulers.

Mr Salmond declared himself to be a Basque and joked that he is going to speak the notoriously difficult language - but only after dark, according to local reports.

Mr Salmond, according to local Spanish-language reports, said: "Nations find different paths to achieve their ambitions; but what connects Scotland and the Basque Country is that both nations seek equal status in the world, but in different ways. The objective is the same. And if the Basque Country and Scotland achieve that objective, then I am sure that both nations can make a substantial contribution to the world."

Mr Salmond cautioned, however, against equating potential breakaway states in the British Isles or Iberia.

He said: "The Basque Country is not Scotland and Scotland is not the the Basque Country and the Basque Country is not Catalonia and Catalonia is not the Basque Country."

Those who support independence - the number is thought to be around a third in the Basque Country - frequently draw inspiration from Scotland's referendum. Spain's central government has made it clear that such a democratic outcome is not on the cards for either the Basque Country or Catalonia, where the current administration is pursuing a road map to independence.

The Basque Nationalist Party or PNV, which has been in government in the Basque Country almost continuously since democracy was re-established in Spain, takes a cautious, gradualist approach.