UK GOVERNMENT officials face scorn after responding to an SNP email to ask what an MSP is - and for failing to recognise the name of Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw.

After sending an email to the Ministry of Justice, the SNP were surprised to receive a response asking for clarification on what a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) was.

The blunder emerged after SNP staff requested details regarding correspondance over drug deaths in Scotland between Jackson Carlaw and three other Scottish Tory MSPs.

However, in their response, the Government official did not recognise any of the names of the elected Tories, on top of not knowing the acronym for a Holyrood politician.

The Whitehall department wrote back: “Please can you clarify in further detail your request.

“Please specify the search location of the individuals you refer to and what is meant by ‘MSP’.”

The individuals in question were Annie Wells, Liam Kerr and Miles Briggs. Wells and Kerr are the Scottish Tory deputy leaders, while Briggs is their health spokesperson.

Speaking to The Scottish Sun, SNP MSP George Adam said: "Nothing could better demonstrate how badly we are served by an out-of-touch Westminster system that barely treats Scotland as an afterthought.

"Boris Johnson’s government has now admitted it doesn’t even know what MSPs are.

"Tories’ ignorance and contempt for Scotland knows no bounds."

An SNP source added: "While the MoJ have no idea who Jackson Carlaw is, it remains a source of great regret that the people of Scotland do. Perhaps Mr Carlaw should send his Tory bosses a who’s who guide to Holyrood — and he might want to highlight his own entry."

The Scottish Sun reached out to the Ministry of Justice for comment and, unbelievably, received a response asking their reporter to clarify once again: “What’s an MSP?”

A spokesman later claimed the email to the SNP had come from a “low-level employee”.