THE House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee is set to finally return next week after a seven-month absence following a political row that erupted between the UK Government and the SNP over its membership.

A war of words broke out after the Nationalists blocked a move, before the parliamentary Easter recess, to establish the committee in objection to the Tories having most members given the governing party had lost half of its seats in Scotland at the General Election.

However, in light of the gathering coronavirus crisis the SNP’s Pete Wishart, who chairs the committee, last month announced that, “very reluctantly” the party was dropping its opposition to the establishment of the committee, so that it could begin scrutinising the UK and Scottish Governments’ responses to the outbreak.

Last week, there was another twist in the saga when a motion to set up the committee, which the SNP had expected to be passed, was not progressed by the Government, it claimed, for no good reason. Whitehall sources later suggested it was simply down to a lack of time.

Nonetheless, both sides hit out, each claiming the other was engaged in “playing games” at such a serious time for the country. Mr Wishart feared a ministerial suggestion, that the re-formation of the committee would have to wait until the introduction of e-voting, meant it would be weeks if not months away.

Now, however, the situation looks set to be about to be resolved as on Monday the setting up of the committee will be brought forward under “remaining orders” and passed without the need for a formal vote.

“It will be re-formed,” declared Mr Wishart. “This is in the face of all the fuss about it. They’ve buckled on it,” he insisted.

Labour sources had suggested that the Tories and the Nationalists had sought to do a “backroom deal” on the matter with the former saying it would progress the Scottish committee motion in return for the latter backing its bid to get Conservative right-winger Bernard Jenkin parachuted into the chairmanship of the Liaison Committee – made up of all the committee chairs - which has the power to call the Prime Minister.

Mr Wishart branded the claim a “load of rubbish” and said it was appalling that the Tories were trying to impose their candidate for the chairmanship of the Liaison Committee when the position had historically been agreed between its members.

And he also knocked back a suggestion from Tory sources that his eagerness to get the committee re-formed was so that he could claim his £15,000 a year payment for chairing it. “It’s a ridiculous accusation. I do reasonably well out of royalties for Runrig,” he said.

A Scotland Office source pointed out that, because of “SNP grandstanding,” Alister Jack, the Scottish Secretary, had had two pencilled-in appearances before the committee cancelled.

He told The Herald: “It is incredibly frustrating that grandstanding by SNP MPs has again delayed an opportunity for the Secretary of State to give evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee. Scrutiny is vitally important.

“The committee would also offer a valuable platform for the Secretary of State to outline the important work the Scotland Office is doing to champion Scotland’s interests at the heart of Government during this difficult time.

“The whole situation is deeply regrettable and the SNP should be ashamed,” he added.

Traditionally, the membership of Commons committees is based on the proportion of seats won at an election. Given the Conservatives have an 80-seat majority, they can expect to have most seats on all the committees. Under this proportion, the Scottish committee would have seen a membership line-up of six Tories, four Labour and one Nationalist.

However, in the recent past the SNP has had a larger share of the seats on the Scottish committee, reflecting the election result in Scotland.

So, the proposed make-up of the committee is five members for the Conservatives, three for the SNP, two for Labour and one for the Liberal Democrats.

Mr Wishart made clear his party would continue to press for it to have one more member on the committee to better reflect the election result in Scotland, which would give the Tories and the SNP the same number of four members.

If, as is expected, the motion to set up the committee is nodded through on Monday, then it will meet privately next week to establish an inquiry into the Governments’ responses on coronavirus.

Mr Jack is expected to be the first witness called and others are set to include Matt Hancock, the UK Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman, his Scottish counterpart, as well as chief medical and scientific officers from north and south of the border.

Meanwhile, peers have announced plans to establish a new Covid-19 Committee to scrutinise the UK Government's response to the pandemic.

The House of Lords Liaison Committee has today recommended the immediate establishment of the committee to undertake "cross-cutting" scrutiny of the long-term implications of coronavirus.

The new body should have a broad remit, looking at economic, societal and wider international implications of the virus, a report by the Liaison Committee said.

It added that the Covid-19 Committee should draw upon members with world-class expertise in each of these fields and should also work to develop understanding of the lessons learned from the pandemic and how they can be applied in the future.

The Liaison Committee's recommendation to establish the new committee will be put to a motion for agreement in the House of Lords.

Members will then be appointed to the committee in the coming weeks.

Lord McFall of Alcluith, senior Deputy Speaker of the Lords, said: "This is the first time either House has sought to establish a new committee dedicated to the Covid-19 emergency and the Government's response to it.

"Two key strengths of Lords committees are their cross-cutting nature, they are thematic in approach rather than set-up to shadow government departments, and the real world experience our members can bring to them.

"These strengths will be much in evidence in the new Covid-19 Committee which will be made up of experts across a whole range of relevant professional backgrounds and be free to consider all the aspects and impact of the current crisis including on the economy, education and the social bonds between generations.

"I firmly believe the new committee will have a key role to play in ensuring we learn the right lessons from the crisis and understand to the fullest extent its effects upon our society, economy, and way of life," added the Scottish peer.