Alex Salmond – Holyrood 8th September 2010 – legislative programme 2010/2011

The First Minister sets out his legislative programme.

Alex Salmond is a towering figure - a statesman, unlike the political pygmies of the Holyrood Tory, Labour and LibDem unionist opposition leaders Goldie, Gray and Scott.

The Tory Party is almost dead in Scotland, and the LibDems have shot themselves in the foot - if not the head - by joining the ill-fated UK coalition.

The real opposition is the Labour Party in Scotland - they represent the real threat in the 2011 election, despite their Scottish feeble leader, values-free political expediency and the legacy of their destructive policies while in Government at Westminster.

If the Scottish electorate don't recognise that the tsunami of cuts coming at them is the fault of Labour and Gordon Brown while in government, they will reap the social and economic whirlwind and undo all the real achievements of their ain folk - the SNP - since the historic election of 2007.

The Scottish Trades Unions at least understand the threat, especially the public service unions, but they don't yet appreciate the lethal irrelevancy of their affiliation to Labour, a party that no longer represents the Scottish people.