Labour's deputy leader has written to Alex Salmond calling on him to sack an aide who accused opposition parties of being "anti-Scottish".

Anas Sarwar MP said the First Minister should "reconsider the position" of parliamentary liaison officer Joan McAlpine, who came in for fierce criticism for her remarks earlier in the week.

Ms McAlpine insisted her remarks were aimed at the leadership of the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative parties and not supporters of the union in general.

But Mr Sarwar said in his letter that in attacking the party hierarchy, she was attacking him.

He wrote to Mr Salmond: "I am sure you will agree that there are not two classes of Scot. I was born here, I live here, I am bringing my family up here. I love Scotland; it is my country just as much as yours.

"I will never question the patriotism of those that disagree with me, and I don't expect to have my patriotism questioned by others. During the forthcoming referendum campaign, I believe we must conduct ourselves with dignity and respect. We must have a mature debate about the future of our country.

"I am therefore writing to ask you to firmly distance yourself from Joan McAlpine's intemperate remarks and to give a strong lead that such remarks are unacceptable.

"The most appropriate way to do this is to publicly disassociate yourself from these comments and to reconsider Ms McAlpine's continued role as your parliamentary liaison officer."

Ms McAlpine first made the comment on the social networking site Twitter, where she said: "Interfering in referendum is anti-Scottish as is refusal to compromise on popular desire 4 powers to Scotland."

In a debate at Holyrood on Thursday she rejected calls to back down, saying: "I absolutely make no apology for saying that the Liberals, the Labour Party and the Tories are anti-Scottish ... in coming together to defy the will of the Scottish people, the democratic mandate the Scottish people gave us to hold a referendum at a time of our choosing.”

Mr Sarwar said he was pleased that Mr Salmond's official spokesman on Thursday disassociated himself from the remarks.

However he said he was "deeply concerned" that since then, a number of Mr Salmond's very senior ministers have failed to follow suit and have tried to "explain away such unacceptable remarks".

Ms McAlpine, a list MSP for the South of Scotland, said: "Let me be crystal clear, people and parties can hold whatever views they wish and be patriotic Scots, and of course that includes Mr Sarwar - I have repeatedly stressed that my remarks were not aimed at any individual.

"My point was that the leaderships of the Labour, Tory and Lib Dem parties should not be ganging up against Scotland's democratic right to decide our own future."