The First Minister, Alex Salmond, acted at the behest of the billionaire Donald Trump during the controversial handling of an application for a £1billion golf resort, it was claimed in Holyrood yesterday.

The Labour MSP Duncan McNeil told Parliament: “Cynics might say, Trump said, ‘Jump!', the First Minister of Scotland said, ‘How high?'”

He made the charge when he opened a debate on the affair after a report by a Holyrood committee, chaired by Mr McNeil, which described Mr Salmond's involvement in the affair as “cavalier”.

A public inquiry has been set up into the application to develop Menie Estate, Aberdeenshire, after the plans were called in by Scottish ministers.

Mr McNeil said the chronology of the affair included a meeting between Mr Salmond and the Trump organisation on December 3 and a meeting between the Scottish Government's chief planner and Trump organisation representatives on December 4, in both cases at the Trump organisation's request. Later that day the application was called in, he said.

Mr McNeil said his committee had examined ministers' decision-making processes with the support of the First Minister. He said: “When the scrutiny started to bite, when we started asking hard questions, the spin machine launched its campaign to denigrate our committee and our work.”

He also raised concern that the First Minister had acted beyond the ministerial code and added: “We found that, far from taking a precautionary approach, the First Minister was cavalier in his actions. It may be that the government's only defence is that the ends justify the means. Yes, they have succeeded in keeping the development alive, but the planning process has been compromised and the Trump development is facing further delay and a possible court challenge.” The Transport Minister, Stewart Stevenson, insisted to MSPs that the government and its officials “have at all times acted properly, objectively and in full accordance with planning legislation, the Scottish ministerial code and all other requirements.”

However, Labour's public services spokesman, Andy Kerr, said that the report was “a damning indictment of the government's handling of the Menie Estate planning application”.

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