TORY MSP Adam Tomkins has been described as arrogant, pathetic, juvenile, misogynistic and antediluvian, in a furious row over plans to ban smacking.

The law professor was livid after his attempt to table amendments to the Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill going through Holyrood, was knocked back.

He said the episode left him despairing, saying that the “so-called Parliament” was bringing itself into “disrepute,” and that “there is no point at all in being an MSP”.

Tomkins said the legislation, introduced to Holyrood by Green MSP John Finnie, was badly drafted.

He said: “If you raise your hand whilst shouting angrily at your child, that could be an assault even if you do not hit them. The Smacking Bill is so badly drafted that, as it stands, such behaviour will become criminal.

“I want to amend this so that, for the purposes of the Bill, something constitutes an assault only if it is a physical attack and so that we criminalise only those actions against children that are intended to cause immediate bodily harm.”

But that attempt was rejected by Holyrood’s Equalities Committee where the Bill is being examined, as it would undermine the general principles of the legislation which has already been passed by MSPs. The chair of that committee is SNP MSP Ruth Maguire, who is Finnie’s daughter.

Tomkins described it as “a sinister attempt to close down legitimate debate”.

He said: “I won’t even be allowed to bring these amendments to Parliament to have them debated and voted on. I’m being closed down and told to shut up. The daughter of the man responsible for the Bill is telling me, a lawyer turned politician, that perfectly sensible amendments I am seeking to make to her father’s legislation are inadmissible. She has given no reasons for her decision and, under the Parliament’s rules, she is not required to. This isn’t parliamentary democracy. It’s bonkers. Sometimes, it seems, there is no point at all in being an MSP. The Smacking Bill, supported in Holyrood by every party except the Scottish Conservatives, is not fit for purpose.”

"It will criminalise all manner of parental actions that even the Bill’s proponents do not intend to criminalise.

“It’s not just the Smacking Bill that is not fit for purpose—it’s the Scottish Parliament itself. Ken Mackintosh is presiding over a so-called Parliament that is bringing itself into disrepute.”

An SNP source said the rules governing admissibility of amendments is set out in the parliament’s standing orders and that it was embarrassing that the John Millar Professor of Public Law at the University of Glasgow School of Law didn’t understand how the Scottish Parliament worked.

The source said: “This is the most arrogant, pathetic, juvenile outburst from Adam Tomkins. He claims to be a hotshot constitutional lawyer. But, embarrassingly, he can’t get his head round simple parliamentary processes.

“Sadly, it’s what we’ve come to expect from the Tories – they opposed devolution from the outset and they hate the very notion of Scotland having its own parliament. They’ll find any excuse to talk it down, erode its powers and question its very existence.

“Perhaps most staggering of all are the misogynistic, antediluvian comments about Ruth Maguire. Ruth’s a respected parliamentarian, she’s in a completely different party to her dad and it’s 2019 – we’re not living in the Edwardian era where women are expected to meekly do as they’re told by bullies like Adam Tomkins.

“Mr Tomkins should wind his neck in, stop blaming others for his own shortcomings and apologise for his stupid comments.”