The UK Government has been urged to rewrite the devolution settlement in light of Humza Yousaf’s controversial meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at Cop28.

Speaking in the Lords, Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe, a minister of state at the Cabinet Office, said she was sympathetic to the calls.

The peer said “the presence of Scottish Government offices in UK Government posts” needed to be “considered".

READ MORE: Diplomatic row as Yousaf invites Erdoğan to Scotland

The First Minister met the Turkish President without a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) official.

That led to Foreign Secretary David Cameron threatening to close down Scotland’s overseas offices.

Last month, The Herald revealed that when Mr Yousaf met with President Erdoğan he invited the Turkish leader to Scotland.

In the House of Lords on Monday afternoon, Tory peer, Lord David Howell, a former Foreign Office minister said: “We seem to come unstuck, particularly over what is devolved, and what is reserved powers in the changing scene of a foreign policy.”

He asked the minister if she agreed that there “might be a case for revisiting the devolution legislation in a completely changed world to understand, for instance, what the role is of the various Scottish offices around other capitals?”

“Are they concerned with trade?” he asked. “Or are they involved in foreign policy? Do major visiting officials from other countries visit Scotland as a separate entity on separate foreign policy considerations?

“This is a very muddled and confused area getting more so. Would she agree we need to clear some of these contradictions up?”

Replying, Baroness Neville-Rolfe said: “Yes, I agree with my noble friend. And it is, of course, a live issue because there is an example of a meeting between the Scottish First Minister and the Turkish President Erdoğan.

“And there was no FCDO official at the meeting. And I regret that. I think it contravenes the protocols.

“And they're designed both to ensure that a minister within the UK-lands is properly informed and making the right points on something as sensitive as this area, but also reports back so that you have a joined up understanding of foreign affairs.

“Foreign Affairs is a UK competence.”

READ MORE: Diplomatic row over Erdogan meeting escalates

Lord Malcolm Bruce, a former Lib Dem MP, told the minister the problem was that "the Scottish Government wishes to be independent and pretends it is independent, and then complain when it finds that things it's trying to do, do not actually conform to the devolution settlement?"

He claimed the Scottish Government was using their presence in UK Government premises overseas "to promote the campaign for independence".

“Hasn't this got to be brought to a halt and the division of what's devolved and what's reserved and what's shared clearly set out and enforced?” he asked.

The Tory minister replied: “I do agree that we need to consider the presence of Scottish government offices in UK government posts, but there is a case for having individual officials knowledgeable about Scotland, engaged on issues, I suppose, like fishing, where there is an important Scottish interest and I have seen that working well myself.

"So I think there's a balance here, but I agree with the general direction of the noble Lord; 's comment.”

Labour peer, George Foulkes urged the UK Government "take some action" to stop ministers in Edinburgh spending on reserved areas.

He told the Lords, "A campaign for independence, overseas embassies, a whole range of other things, as if they're deliberately defying the UK Government.

"When are the government at last going to take the courage in their hands and take some action on the ground to back up their fine words?"

Baroness Neville-Rolfe said the issues were being given "active consideration."

The SNP's Tommy Sheppard said: "It beggars belief that the undemocratic House of Lords is debating the access given to democratically elected officials in Scotland.

"Time and time again, the Scottish Government and its officials represent Scotland across the globe - highlighting all we have to offer, as would be expected of any Government.

"No unelected Lord will stop us in our duty to represent Scotland on the world stage."