ALEX Salmond has hit out at David Cameron for describing the UK Government's welfare reforms as a "moral mission" in the wake of criticism by a church leader.
The Prime Minister used the phrase this week after denying claims by the Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nicols that changes have left people facing destitution and hunger.
He insisted that the reforms were part of his "moral mission" for the country.
Mr Salmond told the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) conference in Glasgow yesterday that independence would offer the chance for a different kind of debate about welfare north of the Border.
"We've got a debate at Westminster driven by language where people are labelled as strivers or skivers; shirkers or workers. But society isn't divided between skivers and strivers - one group who pay in and another who take out," Mr Salmond said.
"Everyone contributes to society, in different ways and at different times; and everyone needs public support, in different ways and at different times."
Mr Salmond also announced an extra £4 million of funding for a scheme which supports jobs for young people in charities.
The Community Jobs Scotland programme has been running since August 2011 and provides employment for young people working for up to six months in charities, earning at least the minimum wage.
The new funding will allow the successful scheme to deliver up to 1200 new job opportunities, across all 32 local authority areas in Scotland.
Mr Salmond said that 100 of the jobs would be reserved for people with a disability or long-term health condition while 200 will be part of pilot programmes for young people from troubled backgrounds.
Mr Salmond also praised charities, and said the third sector's 45,000 organisations, 130,000 employees and more than one million volunteers were "absolutely central to the wellbeing of communities across the country".
He added: "This government hugely values the work you do - often in partnership with central or local government - in alleviating poverty, helping reform public services, creating employment opportunities, and setting up successful social enterprises.
"We want to include you in our decision-making, to involve you in providing and reforming public services, and to work with you in building a fairer and more prosperous country."
Martin Sime, SCVO Chief Executive, said that the charity sector's employment initiative was proving more successful than UK Government schemes in getting people into work.
He said: "The announcement of more investment in Community Jobs Scotland (CJS ) will allow the third sector to help change the lives of even more young people.
"CJS is strongly outperforming other employment initiatives on all counts with more than half of young people getting permanent jobs, doing more training or volunteering."
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