First Minister Jack McConnell yesterday accused the SNP of spoiling for a fight with Westminster on a range of issues to whip up support for the key item on its agenda - a referendum on independence.

First Minister Jack McConnell yesterday accused the SNP of spoiling for a fight with Westminster on a range of issues to whip up support for the key item on its agenda - a referendum on independence.

He claimed the Nationalists were planning for constitutional "chaos and turmoil" within 100 days if they won power at Holyrood, and accused them of a cynical bid to contrive confrontations with Westminster.

Mr McConnell's attack at a news conference in Glasgow follows Sunday's publication by the SNP of its plans for the first 100 days in power. As well as action on a range of devolved policies, the 35-page SNP document sets out a range of demands likely to be rejected by Westminster.

Mr McConnell said: "This weekend we saw a wake-up call for Scotland. This document is a reminder of what the SNP really stand for. It sets out in writing the road they would choose - and it is a route to tax and turmoil."

He said Labour had already costed SNP policies as the equivalent of more than £5000 a year for every Scottish household, and Labour had learned from long years in opposition not to promise what it could not afford.

"We know from yesterday's (SNP) publication that the longest betting slip in history has now got longer. They have made more uncosted promises, more election bribes, designed not for the good of Scotland, not to take our country forward, but to win headlines.

"They don't actually care if they win any of these arguments - the purpose of the argument is to build the case for independence. It's conflict for conflict's sake, and chaos designed to win an independence referendum."

He said the SNP would challenge Treasury rules on public spending, as well as reviving battles from the 1970s about North Sea oil and gas. "They will use every single issue, from national security, to airguns, to membership of our Olympic teams, to further their aims."

Mr McConnell issued an item-by-item attack on the range of "cynical" demands by the SNP which were likely to be rejected by Westminster.

These include seeking early talks on transferring to Holyrood responsibility for North Sea oil, and seeking "urgent" meetings with Westminster to push for the restoration of allowances worth £40m which stopped in Scotland with the introduction of free personal care for the elderly.

They also embraced control of firearms law, free prescriptions, local income tax, health board elections, tougher building regulation, and budgeting for more school nurses, trainees teachers, a first-time home-buyers' grant, and doubling international aid.

Mr McConnell also made a personal attack on Alex Salmond. "We say that when Alex Salmond's ego tells him he speaks for Scotland, he is wrong.

"Alex Salmond had an opportunity this weekend to put independence to one side, to choose to make devolution work, to put the people's priorities first rather than his personal ambitions - and he failed that test of leadership too. He failed to choose what's best for Scotland."

He said the SNP had been guilty of deception by telling business leaders that independence was on the back burner. "That deception has been going on for months. Now it's come to an end. The election campaign is under way and we will make sure in that campaign that we will expose them for what they stand for."

However, Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP's Holyrood leader, said: "Any Scottish government worth its salt will seek to secure progress for Scotland - which Mr McConnell has totally failed to do. On issues such as European representation, attendance allowance, and Scottish oil, Mr McConnell is more of a London Labour minion than a Scottish First Minister."