Scotland's voting "fiasco" means there are MSPs in Holyrood who should not be there, MPs were told yesterday.

The point was made during a two-hour House of Commons debate on the running of the May 3 poll in which a Tory call for an inquiry, independent of the Electoral Commission which is currently conducting one, was defeated.

Members from all sides decried the running of the election, saying it had brought discredit to Scotland. David Hamilton, Labour MP for Midlothian, described the flawed process in which 146,097 votes were rejected as a "debacle", and noted: "There must have been parties who won, who should not have won."

Leading for the Conservatives, David Mundell described the rejected ballots as an "affront to democracy" and called on Douglas Alexander, the Scottish Secretary, to take full responsibility and apologise.

For the Liberal Democrats, Jo Swinson branded the Scottish elections "a fiasco from start to finish", flagging up the postal vote delays, spoilt ballot papers, abandoned counts and crashed technology.

Angus Robertson, the SNP's new leader in the Commons, referred to how First Minister Alex Salmond was "committed" to an inquiry taking place in Scotland, the details of which would be announced "in due course".