New MSP brews up a storm in a coffee cup

Marco Biagi

Labour seized on Mr Biagi's tweet and said he should have been more interested in sorting out the problems in Scotland's schools.

But the MSP insisted his comments were "tongue in cheek" and said Labour were making a mountain out of a molehill.

Mr Biagi's tweet read: "Education committee this morning took 14 mins. Then we spent an hour chatting over coffee. That's how to govern a country."

Edinburgh South Labour MP Ian Murray said: "Parents across Scotland will be furious by this blunder.

"Only recently the SNP/Lib Dem council in Marco Biagi's own constituency agreed to class sizes of 40 in some primaries. You'd have thought he'd be more interested in sorting out the crisis in Scottish schools than downing another latte."

But today Mr Biagi defended his Twitter remarks and hit back at his critics.

He said: "Ian Murray needs to recognise a tongue-in-cheek comment when he comes across one.

"I tweeted back to Ian Murray that he had better never be seen in a cafe again."

Mr Biagi said the hour-long discussion amongst committee members had been a good use of time.

He said: "The members of the committee, including Ian Murray's own party colleagues, had a very wide-ranging discussion on priorities after our first meeting, whose agenda was very thin.

"We elected a convener and deputy convener, agreed to bring the ministers to the next committee meeting to grill them on their priorities, we declared our interests and that was the agenda.

"That's the agenda for all committees holding their first meeting. But whereas other committees would then have sent people back to their offices, we sat and had a very productive discussion, which I think committees should do more of.

"And yes, we had coffee - but it wasn't even publicly-funded coffee. One of the MSPs bought it from the cafe.

"I hope to continue working consensually across party boundaries in the coming years. Ian Murray might want to reflect on the nature of his contribution."

Mr Biagi was surprised by the furore his comments had sparked, but he made clear he would not be giving up his tweets.

He said: "This is Ian Murray making a mountain out of a molehill. Twitter is a medium where people are relaxed, informal and tongue in cheek. I will continue to use Twitter."

Although it is now five weeks since the elections, committees are only just getting up and running. The initial meetings are formally choosing conveners and deputies and agreeing work programmes.

At the end of this month, MSPs will be breaking up for the two-month summer recess.