Scottish party leaders have been setting out their priorities on law and order ahead of the General Election in May.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Labour leader Jim Murphy, Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie and Conservative leader Ruth Davidson set out their stalls on the issue at the Scottish Police Federation (SPF) conference at the Trump Turnberry Resort in South Ayrshire.

Ms Sturgeon said that if Scotland had followed the "calamitous" approach of the UK Government there would be 2,600 fewer officers than her party's commitment of 17,234.

She said SNP MPs at Westminster would help Police Scotland by opposing austerity policies, pressing for the force to be able to recover VAT and ensuring the commitments made in the Smith Agreement on further devolution are delivered.

Ms Sturgeon said: "We have proposed modest increases in spending that would help to support our public services, invest in infrastructure and end the damage being done by UK cuts.

"We will argue for a fair deal for Scotland's police service. Police Scotland is the only police authority in the UK unable to recover VAT and is liable to an annual cost of around £23 million. That is money that could and should be spent on frontline policing.

"And - as was agreed in the Smith Commission - the revenue from court fines and fees should come to Scotland, there should be no limit on the amount of funding from proceeds of crime that we are able to secure and invest instead of handing to the Treasury. SNP MPs will make sure that commitment is delivered."

Ms Davidson said her party's key priority would be to scrap automatic early release.

She said: "Nobody understands why a judge's sentence should be immediately slashed the moment a criminal is sent down.

"It has eroded faith in our justice system and it needs to stop."

The party also wants effective whole life orders reintroduced and community sentences toughened up, with breaches of community orders resulting in 24-48 hours in jail.

Ms Davidson added: "I'm not offering any false promises at this election but I will offer my pledge to do all that I can to provide the ideas and the input to ensure that public money is spent where it should be.

"In terms of police that is on the beat, on the street and ensuring that criminals know there is no hiding place for them in Scotland."

Addressing concerns over the future of the police budget, Mr Murphy said: "Of course there's an issue of resources and I'm not going to kid you on.

"I'm not going to pretend that money can come from nowhere and that any political party can just magic up the money.

"The Labour Party will increase taxes for those who earn more. Anyone earning over £150,000, if Labour wins the election, will have to pay more. Tax avoidance has to be and will be cracked down on.

"We will increase taxes on those who earn most and then it's for people in politics, police officers and families to argue for the police service to get a larger slice of that larger cake because more money would be available."

Mr Rennie used his speech to criticise the operation of the single police force and said SPF members were right to be frustrated as they had been "let down".

He said: "This Government is focused elsewhere rather than using the powers it has to do the serious job of sorting out the sorry mess it created."

"We need to have confidence that decisions are rooted in the evidence of what works locally.

"We need to have confidence that decisions aren't based on political dogma or quick fixes designed to boost figures."