The Tories labelled Salmond “the most useless MP in the House of Commons” after figures showed the SNP leader had participated in four Westminster votes out of a possible 149 since last May.

“We warned before the elections that if Alex Salmond became the MSP for Gordon then the constituency would be saddled with a part-time MSP, dividing his time between London and Edinburgh,” said Scottish Conservative deputy leader Murdo Fraser.
 
“The reality is that it is his Westminster territory of Banff & Buchan which has suffered.

“People in Banff and Buchan did not vote for Alex Salmond in 2005 with the view that he would go on to completely ignore them. He is treating them with contempt and with the Prime Minister now having bottled a General Election, it is likely they will have to put up with another two and a half years of this nonsense.

“Alex Salmond should do the decent thing and resign as an MP. He would still be left with two jobs to do – a constituency MSP and First Minister of Scotland, which should be more than enough for his ego.

“The current tally of three is most definitely a crowd and I hope that if he truly does care about people in Banff & Buchan he will pave the way for a by-election in the very near future. As it currently stands, there is no hard-working MP for Banff and Buchan, which is the least that any constituency deserves.”

But a spokesman for the First Minister accused the Tories of scraping the bottom of the barrel and ignoring the Scottish national interest.

"There is a clear advantage to Scotland in having a First Minister who can make key interventions at Westminster on Scotland's behalf,” he said. “For example, on the UK Government's legislative programme or for that matter his exchanges with the Prime Minister on co-operating against terrorism.

"There is also a clear advantage to the north east as Mr Salmond donates his Holyrood salary to a charitable trust which has already benefited charities in the north east.

"The Tories tried a similar attack in 2005 when the SNP achieved more than 50 per cent of the vote in Banff & Buchan. In 2007 they tried the same failed tactic as the SNP achieved an 11 per cent swing to win Gordon. In both constituencies, the Tories performed miserably as they did throughout the rest of Scotland. The people in the north east have spoken and have shown they are happy with the arrangement.

"Mr Salmond said all along he would be standing down as MP at the next General Election. That is exactly what he intends to do and exactly what every other dual mandate MSP has done. In fact, the SNP has already chosen the next candidate for Banff & Buchan.

"There is much more to being an MP than trooping the lobbies at Westminster as is shown in the latest available league table for MPs participation. Encompassing speeches in the Chamber, tabling of Motions, and submitting of Written and Oral Questions, the analysis shows that all six SNP MPs, including Mr Salmond, are in the top ten among Scottish MPs."