NICOLA Sturgeon has compared Alister Jack to a Governor-General of a colony after he blocked the Scottish Parliament’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill.

In a speech to the pro-independence Business for Scotland group’s annual dinner, the First Minister said the Secretary of State for Scotland was “treating the Scottish Parliament as a subordinate body.”

A Scotland Office source described the comments as a “cheap personal attack.”

The Tories accused her of "playing to the gallery."

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In her speech, Ms Sturgeon said the country had “entered a new and more dangerous phase for devolution.” 

She said: “The Tories have broken cover. The stealth attacks have been joined by a full-frontal assault – the decision of the Tory Government to strike down a law clearly within devolved competence which was passed overwhelmingly in the Scottish Parliament, and which was supported by MSPs from all parties.

“Through his actions, the UK Government Secretary of State for Scotland is demonstrating he is sadly not interested in working in partnership. 

“He’s decided to act like a Governor-General: treating the Scottish Parliament as a subordinate body and deciding which democratic decisions and laws to veto.”

The First Minister also claimed Westminster was undermining the economy. 

She told the audience of Yes backing business people: “Westminster control means the worst of both worlds – a weaker Scottish Parliament and a weaker economy. 

"In fact, the result of decades of Westminster economic mismanagement is now becoming clear, not just for Scotland but for the UK a whole.

“Those failures were taking hold before Brexit – but Brexit will make them much worse.”

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The First Minister also used the speech to criticise Labour and Sir Keir Starmer’s commitment to make Brexit work. 

She said: “Despite the evidence of the economic damage piling up, Labour now supports wholeheartedly the Tory decision to leave both the EU and the Single Market.

“It’s a conspiracy of silence between Labour and the Tories to shut down any talk of Brexit damage.

 “And the victims of the Labour-Tory conspiracy are millions of ordinary people paying the price of unnecessary spending cuts."  

A Scotland Office source said: “Cheap personal attacks like this are unworthy of the First Minister.”

Scottish Conservative shadow constitution secretary Donald Cameron MSP said: “Nicola Sturgeon’s hyperbole and absurd claims prove her primary motive is not the flawed GRR Bill itself, but manufacturing a constitutional spat for her own self-interest.

“The truth, as she well knows, is that the UK Government were left with little option but to issue a Section 35 order because she railroaded through legislation that impinges on equalities law in the rest of the UK.

“She was repeatedly warned by Scottish Conservative MSPs that the bill would have an impact beyond Scotland’s borders – but she chose to ignore it.

“Indeed, given the way she’s played to the gallery since, people may suspect this constitutional row was her intention all along.”