Scots Tory leader Annabel Goldie and her Labour counterpart Iain Gray will both launch fierce attacks on First Minister Alex Salmond today.
Scots Tory leader Annabel Goldie and her Labour counterpart Iain Gray will both launch fierce attacks on First Minister Alex Salmond today.
Miss Goldie will use a St Andrew's Day address to the Conservative Future Scotland Conference to call for more honesty in politics, claiming the First Minister's approach is "damaging" Scotland.
Meanwhile Mr Gray, in a speech to a Scottish Labour youth and student conference, will accuse Alex Salmond of "undermining the promise of the next generation".
Miss Goldie will tell her audience in St Andrews that Mr Salmond "craves to be at the centre of attention" and that he "believes he is Mr Scotland". Speaking about the First Minister she will state: "Even when he is wrong - and he often is - it's never his fault. It's London, it's the Treasury, it's the bankers, and it's the media. Never our Alex.
"Perish the thought be could ever be humble enough to admit he is ever wrong.
"Take the current recession and the banking bailouts. Put quite simply, Alex Salmond was out of his depth. Where there should have been substance, and analysis and careful plans, there was only soundbite and spin and froth."
She will also attack him over the SNP's plans to replace the council with a local income tax, stating: "Just as Labour was forced to concede that VAT might have to rise to 20%, so the SNP should come clean about how high its new local income tax might have to be.
"We need to bring honesty to politics. Straight questions deserve straight answers."
Mr Gray will use his speech in Glasgow to attack key SNP policies, including their local income tax proposals.
He will argue policies such as this risk damaging the economy, thus jeopardising the future prospects of young Scots.
"Alex Salmond has not just broken election promises, he is undermining the promise of the next generation," Mr Gray will claim. "The SNP have let Scotland's young people down time and again.
"They promised to cancel student debt and provide help to buy a first house, then cynically abandoned that.
"They have failed to fund higher education properly and initiate any new school building projects. They have cut apprenticeship places, cut the budget for supporting 16 to 18-year-olds at school and completely cut the funding for thousands of Project Scotland volunteers."
Mr Gray will accuse the SNP of "pursuing policies which will slow down the Scottish economy and jeopardise the prospects of young people as they seek to make a start in life".
The Labour leader will go on to brand the Scottish Futures Trust - the SNP's alternative to PFI and PPP - as a "shambles".
He will say: "Their determination to hold an unwanted referendum on separation creates uncertainty regarding Scotland's future, threatening to undermine business confidence and investment at the worst possible time.
"The SNP do not understand that Scotland's greatest resource is not its North Sea oil but the untapped potential of its young people."
A spokesman for the First Minister said: "When the rest of Scotland is coming together to celebrate our National Day, how sad that Annabel Goldie and Iain Gray - Labour and the Tories, the Tweedledum and Tweedledee of Scottish politics - should be the party poopers with these inaccurate and negative attacks."
The spokesman added: "The SNP Government is delivering for the people of Scotland in tough times - freezing council tax, cutting business rates for small businesses, and investing in our public services for all the people.
"That is why our poll lead over Labour and the Tories is even higher than when we won the Holyrood election last May."
