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Salmond laying out SNP priorities Alex Salmond pledge to fight 'bigotry and booze'
(40 minutes later)
First Minister Alex Salmond is laying out his early plans for government in an address to the Scottish Parliament. Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has laid out his five-year vision for government, with a pledge to tackle "bigotry and booze".
Top priorities for the majority SNP government include laws to tackle football-related violence and minimum alcohol pricing. Following the SNP's landslide election victory, Mr Salmond has made new laws on tackling sectarianism and minimum alcohol pricing a priority.
Mr Salmond will also pledge a "social contract" with Scots, promising not to cut vital services in return for measures like public pay restraint. Speaking at Holyrood, the first minister again demanded more powers for Scotland to boost the economy.
Opposition parties will scrutinise the plans during a Holyrood debate. And he pledged a "social wage" with the people of Scotland.
The Scottish government said its first piece of legislation would be plans to increase jail terms for sectarian-related disorder, with the hope of parliament passing new laws in the next few weeks. Mr Salmond said he had promised not to cut vital services, in return for measures like public sector pay restraint.
Ministers would also bring back plans to set a minimum price per unit of alcohol - proposals which were defeated in the last parliament when the SNP was in minority government. In the next few weeks, the Scottish Parliament is expected to pass new laws on increasing jail terms for sectarian-related disorder to a maximum of five years.
Mr Salmond also plans talk about the concept of a "social wage" - telling MSPs of the importance of public sector pay restraint in a tough financial climate. And ministers will also bring back plans to set a minimum price per unit of alcohol - proposals which were defeated in the last parliament when the SNP was in minority government.
At the same time, he will say his government has committed to helping hard-pressed Scots by freezing the council tax over the course of the five-year parliament. The first minister told MSPs: "In the age of Twitter and texts, the dreams of a free-speaking world are contaminated by viral strains of bitterness.
The government has also committed to keeping prescription charges and bridge tolls free, while maintaining free bus travel for the elderly and protecting NHS spending. "Technology has given fresh energy to old hatreds and pustulant sectarianism again seeps across our land.
The first minister says the SNP administration has taken a "distinct" approach in Scotland in comparison, he argues, to a UK government cuts agenda. "Well, it will be stopped - I will not have people living in fear from some idiotic 17th Century rivalry in the 21st Century."
The Scottish government's detailed programme for government, including a list of planned bills, will come after the summer break. Mr Salmond said sectarianism "must stop", adding: "Not because it is embarrassing to our national image - though it is.
"Nor that it is embarrassing to ourselves - though it is that too - but because it is a pointless cause pursued by the pitiless."
Turning to Scotland's "booze culture", Mr Salmond went on: "I think that we have confused our appetite for fun with a hunger for self-destruction.
"We tolerate a race to the bottom of the bottle, which ruins our health, our judgement, our relationships, our safety and our dignity."
"Thus, early legislation in this parliament shall address both bigotry and booze."