The SNP’s Westminster leader has described his “great personal sorrow” that Alex Salmond “will not live to see an independent Scotland” following his death on Saturday, aged 69.

Stephen Flynn led tributes at Westminster to the former first minister with messages of condolence coming from MPs from across the political spectrum.

Salmond was first elected to the UK parliament in 1987, serving as an MP until 2010, and again from 2015 until he lost his seat two years later.

The former first minister died from a heart attack during a trip to North Macedonia.

Discussions on arrangements to repatriate his body to Scotland are under way.

Chris McEleny, general secretary of the Alba party, flew to North Macedonia following Salmond’s death to help with the process.

He told BBC Scotland’s Drivetime programme: “I’ve got one last job to do for Alec and that’s to get him home for his family.

“For his family’s sake, friends, we should get him home as quickly as possible. And for all that he’s done for Scotland, I think it’s the least that we can do for him.”

McEleny has called on the UK government to grant approval for his body to be flown directly back to Scotland. He added bringing him home on a commercial flight could take a “significant amount of time”.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said they were providing consular support to his family and were in discussions with local authorities and the Scottish government.

During his tribute in the Commons, Stephen Flynn recalled the night that Alex Salmond lost his seat at Westminster during the 2017 general election.

He said: “It is a moment that I will never forget, not because of the nature of his defeat but for what happened next.

“Within just a few moments Alex Salmond took to the podium and gave a speech which despite the despair that all of us in the SNP felt in the room that night, made us feel 10 feet tall.”

Flynn described Salmond as “the most talented, formidable and consequential politician of his generation”.

“The challenge for all of us now in the nationalist movement is to make sure we put good his legacy and deliver the future that he so badly fought for throughout his distinguished parliamentary career,” he added.

The Speaker of the House of Commons paid tributes to to Salmond earlier, stating he “leaves a deep and lasting legacy behind him”.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: “The thoughts of this whole house will be with his family and friends at this difficult time”.

Secretary of State for Scotland Ian Murray said no MP “was given an easy ride” by Salmond but added he had left an “indelible mark”.

“It is impossible to overstate the impact Alex had on Scotland and our politics after half a century of involvement from student activist to first minister,” he said.

“Whether you agreed or disagreed with his political objective there is no denying the rigour and commitment he pursued that goal.”

Murray added that while the pair disagreed on many things they shared a love for Heart of Midlothian football club.

Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland John Lamont said Salmond was “undoubtedly a giant in Scottish and United Kingdom politics” who was “passionate, formidable, impressive and hugely charismatic”.

Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland Alistair Carmichael said the “survival of a Scottish white fish industry today” was “as a result in no small part” of Salmond’s work during a time when cod stocks in the North Sea fell.

He added the former first minister was “a man whose like we may never see again”.

Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts said Salmond was a “friend of Wales” and added it is “difficult to overstate the influence he has had on the nationalist movements not just in Scotland but in Wales too.”

Reform UK’s Richard Tice described Salmond as a “truly great man,” who was “so generous with his words of advice and wisdom”.

First Minister John Swinney has lodged a Motion of Condolence at the Scottish Parliament to mark the passing of the former first minister.

Books of condolence have been opened in the Scottish Parliament’s garden lobby and public hall for MSPs and members of the public to leave messages.

The flags at St Andrews House and the Scottish Parliament were lowered as a mark of respect.

Flags will be lowered again on the day of the reading of the Motion of Condolence and again on the day of Mr Salmond’s funeral.

Holyrood is currently in recess until 26 October.

The acting leader of the Alba Party says he hopes Alex Salmond’s legal case against the Scottish government continues after his death.

Kenny MacAskill said the decision was for the former’s first minister’s family to make but that he would support court action to expose alleged wrongdoing.

Salmond was in the process of suing the Scottish government over a botched investigation into harassment complaints when he died of a heart attack on Saturday.

The government previously vowed to defend itself “robustly” in court.

Salmond’s close friend David Davis, a Conservative MP, has also vowed to secure “justice” for the ex-SNP leader.

In November last year, Salmond lodged a Court of Session petition seeking a reported £3m in damages and loss of earnings.

He had already been awarded more than £500,000 in costs by the Scottish government over the mishandling of harassment complaints against him.

The former first minister, who launched Alba in 2021, was also cleared of sexual assault charges at a subsequent criminal trial.

MacAskill, an ex-SNP cabinet colleague of Salmond, said he would support the legal action if the family decided to push forward with it.

He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland: “My own position is that I will respect whatever the family decide.

“But I would certainly hope and I believe that they are likely to continue this, because that court case will expose, I believe, malfeasance amongst individuals and institutions that really has to be brought out to allow history to properly remember Alex Salmond.”

The former first minster has sued the government for misfeasance – a civil law term that means the wrongful exercise of lawful authority.

After someone dies, the executors of their estate are able to pursue claims for past damages.

However, if they lost the case, the estate could be liable for legal costs. An executor could also be personally liable for making a decision which no reasonable executor would.

Salmond was claiming damages for injury to him – not physical injury, but an alleged loss of earnings due to his treatment by the government.

His lawyers claimed Holyrood officials acted “improperly, in bad faith and beyond their powers with the intention of injuring” the ex-SNP leader.

His team said that they did not recognise the £3m figure, but said the claim for damages and loss of income would be “significant”.

Salmond warned a “day of reckoning” was coming for the Scottish government as he named former first minister – and political protegee – Nicola Sturgeon and ex-permanent secretary Leslie Evans in the case, accusing both of misfeasance.

At the time the case was launched, then-first minister Humza Yousaf said the government would defend itself “robustly”.

Sturgeon has repeatedly denied being part of a plot against Salmond, or that there was evidence of one existing at all.

An initial hearing into the “misfeasance” action was heard at the Court of Session in November to lay the groundwork for a future case, which is yet to begin.

The case has been postponed several times since November while separate investigations take place – including complaints Salmond has made about events around the original case, about leaks to the media and claims of perjury.

Davis, a former Conservative minister, said he had been due to meet Salmond for dinner on Sunday where they would have discussed his complaints.

He said he wanted to see Holyrood given powers of privilege to allow it to investigate without fear of prosecution as he seeks “proper answers to what exactly happened in the treatment of Alex Salmond”.

Davis told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland that the legal issues had “put a huge pall over the last several years of this great man’s life and, who knows, it might even have accelerated his death”.

He added: “I want to see this exposed, opened up, so that the Scottish government is forced to answer the questions it ought to answer on this matter.”

The government has been asked to comment.

An MSP who was expelled from the SNP over social media posts about the Israel-Gaza war says he stands by his comments.

John Mason said he was “incredibly disappointed” to be expelled, but was “happy” to repeat the comments that led to his initial suspension.

The Glasgow Shettleston MSP had the whip removed in August following a post on X that there was “no genocide” in Gaza.

He said he was considering appealling his expulsion, which was confirmed on Saturday.

The SNP have said they cannot comment on ongoing disciplinary process.

At the time of his initial suspension, a spokesperson for the SNP chief whip described Mason’s comments as “utterly abhorrent”.

Mason – who had been an SNP MSP for 16 years – told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland: “To be expelled over a disagreement over the definition of a word – an important word, genocide – but to be expelled for that reason is extremely disappointing.”

He said he was “happy” to repeat his claims.

“There is a war going on,” the MSP, who will now sit at Holyrood as an independent, said.

“Lives have been lost, desperately sadly, as they have been in Ukraine, as they have been in every war.

“But there is a difference between war and genocide and to say that every war is genocide is not the way we use that word.”

He said he “totally regretted” the loss of life but that Israel feels “very threatened”.

Mason told the BBC: “We don’t tend to say that the bombing of German cities was genocide, we don’t tend to say that Hiroshima was genocide – these were acts of war, maybe disproportionate.

“Genocide is a very serious word,” he added. “To just mix up the words genocide and war is not accurate.”

The SNP Member Conduct Committee, which ruled that Mason should be expelled, accused Mason of claiming to be the “arbiter” of what is considered to be genocide, describing that as “unacceptable and offensive”.

In a letter to the MSP, the committee also said he had misrepresented SNP policy and had shown “no contrition”.

Mason denied was was claiming to be the “arbiter” of what was genocide and called for the party to be “tolerant” on such issues.

He said the SNP should be a “big tent”, adding: “On issues like this that are not central to independence, we should allow a bit of latitude so that no one person is the arbiter of a word like genocide.”

The Shettleston MSP said he supported the party in calling for a two-state solution the conflict, but said he did not understand the party policy he is accused of disagreeing with.

Mason, 67, said he had already decided to retire at the next election, scheduled for 2026.

He has been given 21 days to appeal but said he would be prepared see out the remainder of the term as an independent.

The MSP added: “If I am independent then I have a bit more freedom but I will be doing all I can to support the SNP.”

About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

Since then, more than 42,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.