A PROPOSAL for SNP MPs to be quizzed on the Scottish Government’s record by Tory and Labour MPs has been branded “constitutionally illiterate”. 

The plan was announced by prominent Liz Truss supporter Sir Iain Duncan Smith during a campaign event in Stirling on Wednesday night. 

He told party members that should the foreign secretary win the leadership contest he would ask her to speak to “the SNP MPs about what they deliver in Scotland, rather than them constantly asking us”.

He said: “We need to turn the tables on them and start saying, ‘Well, can we have a period of question time for you lot to talk about what you are doing in Scotland as the devolved administration?’

“And start examining some of this stuff because they’re not just SNP protesters down in parliament, they are actually part of the government up here.”

Unlike Ms Truss, Mr Duncan Smith said it would be wrong to ignore First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

“I don’t want to ignore her,” he said. “What I want to do is to let the world know just exactly why Scotland is suffering so much under this incompetent regime at Holyrood.

"The truth is, it is a disaster: everything from health, the police, the railways — they can’t even build ships sometimes on time and on budget.”

Responding to a question about the Scottish parliament’s inquiry into the Scottish Government’s handling of harassment complaints against Alex Salmond, Mr Duncan Smith said he would advise Ms Truss to give Holyrood greater powers to scrutinise ministers. 

"I am desperate for greater powers for scrutiny,” he said. “It is only scrutiny that unearths all this nonsense and you may have hit a point actually, which is that the weaker scrutiny up here has allowed the Nationalists to get away with it. 

“So I am going to take that straight back and talk to her about it and see what we could do.

"That should be happening right now and would have made a difference with the mess they got into over the Alex Salmond affair, you are quite right.”

The SNP’s Deputy Westminster Leader Kirsten Oswald described the plan for a special question time just for her party as “utterly ridiculous”.

“It is not the SNP’s job to explain why Westminster control is increasingly making life more difficult for the people of Scotland – even if the Tories are out of excuses.

“The job of SNP MPs in Westminster is to stand up for Scotland against a UK government choosing to ignore our interests at every turn. That is what they will continue to do for as long as we suffer under Westminster control, which I strongly believe won’t be for very much longer.”

Aileen McHarg, Professor of Public Law and Human Rights, Durham University tweeted: “This kind of stuff is completely constitutionally illiterate. Fundamentally inconsistent with the principles of devolution established in relation to the first Stormont Parliament.”

The comments come as a report in the Sun suggested Mr Duncan Smith is in line to be Chief Whip if Ms Truss enters No 10. 

The paper also suggests Priti Patel is likely to move from Home Secretary to Party Chairman while Rishi Sunak could be offered Health.

Kwasi Kwarteng could move No 11 as Ms Truss's Chancellor, with Simon Clarke becoming the Business Secretary.

Penny Mordaunt is reportedly keen on becoming the next Culture Secretary, while Kemi Bandenoch could become Education Secretary.