Scottish MP reveals his accent is so thick it has to be translated when he speaks in the Commons

The Scottish National Party and the Tories rarely seem to speak the same language when it comes to crucial issues like Brexit and the future of the Union.

But for one SNP MP, getting his voice heard by the Government at Westminster has proved next to impossible. 

Alan Brown, who represents Kilmarnock and Loudon, is believed to be the first MP to have to have his parliamentary contributions translated for official records. 

Alan Brown

The MP's accent is so strong that even fellow Scots like Liam Fox struggle to decipher his contributions in the Chamber.

He admitted that ministers find his thick Ayrshire tones so incomprehensible that recorders at Hansard, the official report of parliamentary proceedings, have to pass him notes asking him to write out his words whenever he stands to speak in the Commons. 

Mr Brown said: "It first became really clear to me not just when it was ministers looking to respond, but it became a running joke with my colleagues that even if I asked a two-line question Hansard would send me a note asking me to confirm what I said.

"As a matter of course, if you do a speech they ask for your speech notes, but with me it's even just a question."

Mr Brown said whenever he gets up to speak, he notices the minster sink back into their green leather bench and put their ear right up against the speaker to hear him more clearly.

"David Davis (the Brexit Secretary), he almost laughs when he sees me standing up. You can see him, by default, move his ear to the speaker," Mr Brown said.

"I think Liam Fox struggles too."

Mr Brown grew up in a village just outside Kilmarnock in the constituency he now represents. He says he has made an effort to speak more slowly during Commons debates, but several Tory MPs have confessed that they still cannot follow him.

"I think I have slowed it down and spoke clearly and then other MPs still think I've spoke way too fast - so again it's that perception", he said.

"I was on a cross-party trip to Qatar, so speaking to Qataris I had to make even more of an effort to slow down and enunciate what I was saying.

"That was when a Tory MP said: 'Alan, I can understand you, if you spoke like that in the chamber that would make things much easier.' She thinks I sound fast and angry."

But he said his constituents north of the border would revolt if he suddenly lost his Kilmarnock accent, and Mr Brown said he has "no intention of changing now".

He said: "Because people know me locally and know how I talk, they would actually question what was happening if my accent changed when I came down to Westminster.

"We know people are very wary of politicians losing what they stood for, or changing too much when they take on the role. A sort of 'who does he think he is now?'.

"One last wee aside: my wife is actually American and I take the view if her family can understand my accent, the people in Westminster should be able to as well."

In quotes | A second referendum on Scottish independence