SCOTLAND'S two governments have set out their track records for 2012 and their competing visions for 2013, with Michael Moore arguing the success of the Olympics showed Scotland could achieve more within a "family of nations".
Meanwhile, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon insisted real success could only be achieved if Scotland were independent.
The Scottish Secretary claimed 2012 had seen the UK Government "deliver innovative policies for Scotland and remove the referendum mist against an incredible backdrop of a home Olympics and Paralympics, where our athletes made Britain proud".
Ms Sturgeon said the SNP Government had shown a "real record of delivery in Scotland" and had put the people of Scotland first.
Mr Moore highlighted the "respect agenda", saying: "Last year was hugely important for Scotland. We delivered the latest chapter in the success story that is devolution through the Scotland Act; that means more financial powers and accountability for the Scottish Parliament.
"We reached full agreement with the Scottish Government on terms for an independence referendum and through the Edinburgh Agreement we delivered it in a democratic and transparent way.
"That 'can do' spirit is something we must build on next year as we tackle some of the challenges we face – creating jobs and getting the economy on track are a priority."
For her part, Ms Sturgeon highlighted how the Scottish Government had delivered on key commitments to improve health, education and support jobs while the social wage and council tax freeze, which other parties wanted to remove, were helping households across Scotland in difficult times.
"Our growth industries such as renewables and food and drink are thriving internationally despite the tough economic climate and Scotland is continuing to outperform other areas of the UK in securing inward investment.
"In contrast," she argued, "it has taken four years for the Chancellor to finally see sense and support investment in infrastructure."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article