Deputy First Minister John Swinney has accused the UK Government of "mucking about" with Scottish international trade missions.

Mr Swinney said he cannot see any value in Scotland Office involvement in trade missions organised by Scottish Government agency Scottish Development International (SDI).

He accused the Scotland Office of hastily convening a trade mission to Brazil on the back of a Scottish Government mission to "establish themselves" during the independence referendum campaign.

He also accused Scotland Office ministers of regularly standing up Holyrood committees after Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael cancelled an appearance at Holyrood today.

Labour MSP Lewis MacDonald suggested Mr Swinney was being "territorial" because he found the Scotland Office's good work on exports "irritating".

The Scotland Office commissioned the Wilson Review of Support for Scottish Exporting which found potential for overlap between SDI and its Westminster counterpart UK Trade & Industry (UKTI).

But Mr Swinney said SDI and UKTI have a good relationship and the Scotland Office adds nothing to the party.

"We had a trade mission set up to go to Brazil and then the Secretary of State decided to have one too," he told Holyrood's Economy Committee.

"There has been a little bit of history, particularly in the run-up to the referendum, where the Scotland Office were keen to establish themselves on some of this territory, if I can put it as delicately as that.

"I'm not here to answer for the Scotland Office, they can answer for themselves, although I hear they stand up committees on a regular basis."

He added: "There is a perfectly good relationship between SDI and UKTI where we respectively take forward our interests and we are in touch with each other and talking about these things.

"And then we have also got the Scotland Office mucking about in here. What are they adding?"

He added: "UKTI has its responsibilities, we (Scottish ministers) have got our responsibilities, as does SDI.

"I can understand the role of UKTI and SDI, I can absolutely understand the need for those two organisations to work collectively and collaboratively together.

"What the Scotland Office adds to the party, I have no idea."

Mr MacDonald said: "Is it not more that you just don't like the Scotland Office on principle and the fact that it is doing good things is just mildly irritating and a bit of a distraction?"

Mr Swinney repeated that he does not see the value of the Scotland Office in the process.

A Scotland Office spokesman said: "These comments are factually inaccurate and fail to reflect the huge amount of work the UK Government does to promote Scottish exporting.  The Scotland Office works closely with UKTI to support Scottish companies in key markets around the world and Secretaries of State, past and present, have led key missions in the past, often at the invitation of business organisations.

"The trade mission to Brazil was the largest Scottish trade mission ever to go there and was led by the Secretary of State for Scotland who, as a UK Minister, was able to meet Brazilian ministers of the highest level, including the Trade Minister and make the case for Scottish business and trade interests.

"It is surprising that the Scottish Government appears not to support this work to help key businesses, which rely on extensive UK networks, research and expertise across the world in their exporting outreach. The Scotland Office plays an important role in that relationship.

"Both SDI and UKTI officials asked the Scotland Office to continue to act as convenor and secretariat of the joint working group set up following the Wilson Review to help them work more closely together.

"The Wilson Review of Support for Scottish Exporting, commissioned by the Scotland Office, calls for greater collaboration between Scotland's two governments, which is wholly right."