Gordon Brown has been accused of ignoring the claims of senior Holyrood politicians to be appointed to the House of Lords. The allegations come amid suggestions that Whitehall is determined to prevent MSPs “getting above their station”.

MSPs have signalled their anger at the failure to recognise the former Labour First Minister Jack McConnell, the former Presiding Officer George Reid, of the SNP, and the current Conservative Presiding Officer Alex Fergusson, the Conservative MSP.

The Independent MSP Margo MacDonald today revealed that she had been pressing for more than two years to have leading Holyrood figures elevated to the House of Lords and now fears that they are being excluded deliberately.

She said: “I can’t tell you how disgusted I am at the small, short-term thinking that that must have been done by people in London. One person I spoke to said they didn’t want us getting ideas above our station. That is a very unwise attitude.”

By convention, former Speakers of the House of Commons are automatically elevated to the Lords. Ms MacDonald believes that the same should apply to any former First Minister or Presiding Officer.

Ms MacDonald has also been urging Westminster to make Mr Fergusson a member of the Privy Council.

Labour figures in Scotland believe that Jack McConnell has been deliberately ignored by Gordon Brown, with whom he is known to have had an uneasy relationship. One senior source said: “When you look at silly appointments like Sir Alan Sugar, it is all the more disgraceful that someone like Jack isn’t being put into the Lords, where he would make a real contribution.” Another said: “It’s bad enough to treat Jack in this way but to treat George Reid like this is an insult to Scotland.”

A former Labour Cabinet minister said that Mr McConnell spent more than a year arguing that the former Lord Advocate, Colin Boyd, should be given a peerage before Tony Blair finally agreed in 2006. “London was arguing that they didn’t want to create a precedent. The attitude was ‘who do they think they are’.”

The SNP strongly criticised the refusal to give recognition to the three senior Scottish politicians. A Nationalist source said: “Gordon Brown’s Government appears to be sidelining Holyrood.”

Ms MacDonald has argued against the existence of the House of Lords but says that there should be a strong link between the parliaments while the union is in place. “There has to be co-operation and an understanding and what better than to have people who have served in the highest offices to serve there,” she said.

The Conservative peer Lord Forsyth of Drumlean said that he supported moves to strengthen communication between Holyrood and Westminster. He said: “If you establish an institution like the Scottish Parliament you must have in place a means whereby you have a dialogue and you strengthen the union by improving relations and interplay between the executives.”

The former Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace is the only MSP to have been made a peer after becoming a member of the Scottish Parliament. He said he did not agree that his colleagues in Holyrood had been ignored deliberately but added: “As long as we have a House of Lords it would undoubtedly benefit from having people like Jack McConnell and George Reid.”

Another Scottish peer said that there was no agenda against Holyrood politicians and that Whitehall had not issued a list of peers since 2005. A Whitehall source said: “There has been no list to snub people from. The merits of these individuals are well appreciated at the highest levels. Both Jack McConnell and George Reid have an excellent case and their inclusion in the Lords would help to strengthen it.”

Mr McConnell was widely expected to be given a peerage when he stepped down as Labour Leader after the party’s election defeat in 2007. He was promised the role of High Commissioner to Malawi by Mr Brown but that appointment has been delayed and he is currently working with the UN on conflict resolution. He today refused to make a statement on the issue.

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