Vintage Alex Salmond, but who will stop him telling whoppers at Holyrood…?

IT IS the forum where MSPs are given the opportunity to scrutinise the First Minister and hold his administration to account.

The weekly jousting match that is First Minister's Questions resumed yesterday for the first time since the SNP surged to victory in last month's elections.

But as SNP leader Alex Salmond squared up to his rivals, it quickly became clear that his new grip on Holyrood would take his grandstanding and rhetoric to new levels.

Buoyed by the inflated ranks of Nationalist MSPs behind him after the party's landslide election victory, and facing a greatly diminished opposition, Mr Salmond provoked anger from rival MSPs for refusing to address questions and being allowed to ramble on during answers.

The complaint is nothing new at First Minister's Questions. But it could take on more significance, given the SNP's unprecedented majority at Holyrood and its dominance over the influential committees of the parliament.

Viewers tuning into watch Mr Salmond's performance on television will have seen opposition benches depleted, with many heavyweights such as Labour's Andy Kerr and Tom McCabe now gone, along with Liberal Democrats such as Mike Rumbles and Jeremy Purvis.

• First Minister's Questions: Claims and truths

Tory leader Annabel Goldie later issued a statement hitting out at the SNP leader for "peddling myths" about the recent row over the role of UK Supreme Court in the Scottish legal system. Ms Goldie accused the SNP of "rhetorical bile" over the issue and voiced anger at Mr Salmond's claim that the Supreme Court "opens cells doors" of Scottish prisons.

She said: "Alex Salmond and Kenny MacAskill have badly mishandled this issue and their rhetorical bile has caused a great deal of unnecessary ill-feeling."

New Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie openly complained about Mr Salmond's failure to address his question about the SNP government's threat to withdraw funding from the Supreme Court.

The First Minister enjoyed free rein to set out his answers at length, despite a pledge from the new Presiding Officer, Tricia Marwick, chosen controversially from SNP ranks, that she would give backbenchers more of a say.

Yesterday, the opening three questions from the opposition leaders took up the first 25 minutes of the half-hour session.

Labour's Iain Gray was still making jokes at his own expense yesterday over his party's election defeat and his narrow return to Holyrood.

Even in the last parliamentary session, the opposition leaders struggled to lay a glove on Mr Salmond during their weekly joust.Mr Rennie looks like he may be a feisty opponent, but it remains to be seen what impact the new leaders of Labour and the Conservatives can make against Mr Salmond in full swing.

Labour's Hugh Henry, who ran for the position of Presiding Officer and promised to shake-up the whole system if elected, said questions to ministers had become a "farce".

He added: "The Presiding Officer, on behalf of the parliament, must ensure that ministers actually answer the questions that are asked.

"Once again, we've seen Alex Salmond allowed to duck and dodge questions and refusing to provide answers to the very pressing questions that were being raised."