First minister sets out next year’s plans for government

Labour leader complains of style over substance in ‘flyweight’ statement

By Tim Pauling

Published:

Alex Salmond’s government plans for the next 12 months were dismissed as “positively flyweight” by the opposition yesterday.

The accusation was levelled as the first minister made a statement on the SNP’s first year in government and its plans for moving Scotland forward.

The statement contained four new initiatives and several that are already in the pipeline.

The new initiatives are:

Mr Salmond laid out the “key achievements” of the SNP’s first year in office, which included cutting business rates, freezing council tax, removing tolls on the Forth and Tay road bridges and abolishing the graduate endowment.

Other decisions involved retaining and enhancing children’s cancer services at Aberdeen and Dundee, and plans for a new north-east jail to replace Aberdeen and Peterhead prisons.

Vowing to keep up the pace, Mr Salmond said the government would continue taking forward its Climate Change Bill and press ahead with the national conversation on Scotland’s future with a view to bringing forward a bill for a referendum on Scottish independence in 2010.

“My message today is clear: one year on and the Scottish Government is continuing to repay the trust of the people of Scotland,” he said.

“We will maintain the pace of delivery and sustain the new confidence and ambition in our country.”

However, Labour leader Wendy Alexander said that, despite the bluster, there had been only two pieces of new policy legislation in the past year — bridge tolls and graduate endowment.

She accused the SNP of pinching Labour’s plans for a university of sporting excellence.

Ms Alexander said: “On the evidence of today, the style over substance looks set to continue.

“This isn’t just lightweight for a government statement, it’s positively flyweight.”

Mr Salmond replied that the programme for government would be announced in September, and the government was working through 11 pieces of legislation for the year.

Tory leader Annabel Goldie demanded that the SNP relent on its plans to extend home detention curfews and to “stop emptying prisons”.

She also called for a U-turn on the SNP's objection to the private sector delivering public services and its refusal to mutualise Scottish Water.

Liberal Democrat leader Nicol Stephen said: “The thing that people remember most about the first year of this SNP government is the broken promises. Students, housing, class sizes, school buildings . . . the list goes on.”