A FORMER Labour minister has provoked outrage after calling the late former first minister Alex Salmond an “ethno-nationalist” and comparing him to Nigel Farage.

Denis MacShane, who was the Labour MP for Rotherham from 1994 until resigning in disgrace in 2012 amid the expenses scandal – for which he was later jailed – spoke to the Paris-based France 24 about the Alba leader’s death over the weekend.

Salmond had been speaking at an event in North Macedonia when a suspected heart attack struck on Saturday, with his death sending shockwaves across Scotland.

READ MORE: 'Bold and courageous': Yes Scotland leaders pay tribute to Alex Salmond

Asked to remember Salmond, MacShane told France24: “He was, above all, one of the new breed of nationalist politicians that we've seen grow in Europe in this century who puts a sort of ethno-nationalist identity politics before everything else.”

The former Labour MP went on: “He got a referendum on separating Scotland from the UK … I was born in Scotland, my mother, half my family, obviously, deeply, deeply Scottish, and I was always horrified at this attempt to break up a fabulous Union of nations.

“We're seeing that in Spain, people who want to break apart Catalonia from the rest of Spain, seeing it in England, where Nigel Farage wants to break away England from the rest of Europe. And I can cite other examples around Europe.”

MacShane then added: “But as a man, incredibly charming, he loved a drink. He was very witty, a great guy to debate with.

“I disagreed with him on liberating Kosovo from the Milošević terrorism because, of course, he was opposed to taking action to defend Europe and support European democracy when it really counted. But a huge, huge figure, very controversial.

“Above all, he lost the independence referendum, so really killed the independence dream by calling it, and it's never come back into life.

“And Scotland, now economically and socially, is in a far worse position than England, partly because of nationalist government there which he represented.”

READ MORE: Final pictures of former first minister Alex Salmond published

MacShane’s comments provoked anger on social media, with The National contributor Gerry Hassan writing: “Former Labour MP and minister Denis MacShane showcases his complete lack of knowledge of Alex Salmond, the SNP and Scotland.

“Calls Salmond ‘an ethno-nationalist’ like Farage and says of the 2014 indyref that ‘he killed the independence dream by calling it’. Bizarro stuff!”

Twitter/X user @curlowurly, who shared the video of MacShane on France24, wrote: “How the Labour Party characterises Scotland to a foreign audience.

“Utterly despicable slander from Denis MacShane. Calls Alex Salmond an ethno-nationalist, likens him to Farage and claims Scotland is in a worse place now. Bitter Together!”

In 2013, MacShane was found guilty of submitting fake receipts in order to fraudulently claim £12,900 from the public purse.

The sentencing judge said the former Europe minister had “deliberately created misleading and deceptive invoices" and "considerable" dishonesty was involved, the BBC reported.