A UNIONIST MSP has been criticised for a crass joke calling for tanks to be rolled out on to the streets of Glasgow to deal with protesters during the COP26 climate summit being held in the city later this year.

Murdo Fraser’s comment was made in response to a parody account tweeting about an eco-friendly tank.

The fictitious announcement from “RAF Luton” said: "BREAKING: The Eco Defence 209 unmanned tank is the world's first environmentally friendly battery powered driverless tank. It's powered by 142x AA batteries and can be remotely operated via an Xbox controller from up to 8ft away! It will be tested at the next #LondonProtest”

The Scottish Tory MSP then responded: “Great to see this, hopefully we will see it deployed on Glasgow streets to deal with protesters during COP26. Really good that it’s eco-friendly.”

Fraser has been hit with a wave of backlash over the remark.

Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie quoted the MSP, saying: “Bizarrely, this is not a parody account.”

Scottish Labour MSP Monica Lennon added: “Hoping for tanks on the streets is never a good look, whether they are eco-friendly or not.

“It’s time governments and political leaders stopped fobbing citizens off with rhetoric and addressed climate crisis.”

After the wave of criticism, he then bizarrely tried to defend his remarks, saying: "This will be on the front page of Monday’s National. Hook, line & sinker…."

It is unclear whether Fraser's party leader Boris Johnson also felt this was sufficient justification for his widely condemned "joke" during a visit to Scotland this week that Margaret Thatcher’s shutting of coal pits was a boost to the UK’s green credentials.

The National:

SNP MP for Midlothian Owen Thompson said Johnson had confirmed “every worst stereotype of a Westminster Tory Prime Minister toward Scotland – arrogant, out-of-touch, elitist and patronising”.

Other Twitter users also rounded on Fraser over his tank comment.

 

Fraser is a list Tory MSP representing Mid Scotland and Fife, and is the party’s shadow cabinet secretary for Covid recovery.

He was defeated in the constituency vote for Perthshire North in 2021’s Holyrood election by the SNP’s John Swinney.

Johnson’s comments on Thatcher’s coal mine closures came as he was being questioned on a virtual media call on decommissioning oil and gas fields, and compared the move to renewables to that of the switch from coal.

The Prime Minister said: “Look at what we’ve done already. We've transitioned away from coal in my lifetime.

"Thanks to Margaret Thatcher who closed so many coal mines across the country we had a big early start and we’re now moving rapidly away from coal altogether.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon later responded to the remark on Twitter.

She said: "Lives & communities in Scotland were utterly devastated by Thatcher’s destruction of the coal industry (which had zero to do with any concern she had for the planet). To treat that as something to laugh about is crass & deeply insensitive to that reality."