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Salmond in sports university vow Salmond in sports university vow
(about 2 hours later)
A new Scottish university for sporting excellence will be based at Stirling University, the first minister has announced. A new centre for sporting excellence is to be set up at Stirling University, the first minister has announced.
Alex Salmond made the statement in Holyrood as he outlined the SNP's achievements during its first year in power. It will act as the focal point in a network of universities and colleges training Scotland's best athletes.
The institution will support elite sportsmen and women. Alex Salmond's announcement came after the controversial decision to merge the Scottish Institute of Sport - in Stirling - with agency sportscotland.
It follows the Scottish Government's decision to abolish the Institute of Sport, which was based in Stirling. The new centre will receive £600,000 from the Scottish Funding Council, the Scottish Parliament was told.
Mr Salmond said the SNP's minority government had achieved a lot in its first year, from abolishing the graduate charge to cutting prescription charges. Mr Salmond said it would be an initiative to raise the potential of Scotland's best athletes and "enhance our culture of sporting success".
He said the core aims for the year ahead included action on climate change and on working in partnership with local government. Labour accused the SNP of stealing the idea from them.
The first minister also promised a referendum on independence - but not before 2010. This government's ambition for Scotland is well known Alex SalmondFirst minister of Scotland
This government will press ahead with a bill providing for a referendum on Scottish independence in 2010, just as we always planned Alex Salmond The sports announcement came as Mr Salmond outlined the achievements of his administration over the past year, including abolishing the student graduate endowment and cutting prescription charges.
He said: "This government's ambition for Scotland is well known; for this country to take on full responsibility for our destiny, allowing our people, our economy, our society to flourish. He also outlined plans for an annual £2m Saltire Innovation fund and a project to increase public access to information - and re-affirmed the government's commitment to press ahead with an independence referendum in 2010.
"So I'm delighted to confirm that this government will press ahead with the national conversation on Scotland's future and thereafter with a bill providing for a referendum on Scottish independence in 2010, just as we always planned." Mr Salmond told MSPs: "This government's ambition for Scotland is well known; for this country to take on full responsibility for our destiny, allowing our people, our economy, our society to flourish."
Critics said Mr Salmond was struggling to meet several manifesto promises. Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander branded the first minister's statement "self-congratulatory", adding: "This isn't just lightweight, it's positively fly-weight from this government."
Looking back over his first year in office, Mr Salmond picked out Scotland's successful bid for Glasgow to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games as his "biggest single moment" of exhilaration. The Lib Dems' Nicol Stephen said the thing people remembered most about the first year of the SNP in power was broken promises.
Scotland, he argued, had emerged with credit from events such as the Glasgow Airport bombing, the consequences of the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Surrey, and the Grangemouth refinery strike. He told MSPs: "Students, housing, class sizes, school buildings. The list goes on."
"Nobody would say we would want any of these things to happen, and it was deeply disappointing that they did," he said. Scottish Tory leader Annabel Goldie pressed Mr Salmond to publish Scotland's draft national drug strategy by the end of May, and expressed disappointment that the government had not performed a series of "positive U-turns", including ending "hostility" to the private sector in delivering public services and the refusal to mutualise Scottish Water.
"But in some ways these challenges have been the most substantial successes, not just for the government but for the country.
"The way that the country, Scotland - not the government, but Scotland - responded to the Glasgow Airport attack was exceptional."