Joan McAlpine background: No stranger to controversyy

Joan McAlpine’s outspoken views have attracted criticism since she came to parliament last year.

Her suggestion that those who disagreed with SNP policy were “anti-Scottish” did not go down well with the Unionist parties.

She said: “I absolutely make no apology for saying that the Liberals, the Labour Party and the Tories are anti-Scottish in coming together to defy the will of the Scottish people, the democratic mandate the Scottish people gave us to hold the referendum at a time of our choosing.”

Similarly, a newspaper column in which she likened the Union between Scotland and England to abusive marriage attracted controversy.

Ms McAlpine said the United Kingdom was like an English “domineering man” tyrannising and threatening a “talented, well-educated [Scottish] girl with good prospects”.