Sturgeon contrasts Holyrood stability with Brexit ‘meltdown’

She will also advance plans to hold a second independence referendum in 2020 through her controversial referendum bill, although this still lacks the power needed to give it legal bite.

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Ms Sturgeon faces pressure from her budget partners, the Greens, over the pace of reform to tackle the “climate emergency” she declared in April.

The First Minister yesterday refused to give her preferred timescale for ending North Sea oil and gas extraction to help control carbon emissions.

“I want that transition away from fossil fuels to renewable sources to happen as quickly as possible,” he said.

“Scotland is ahead of the game – we’re ahead of many if not most other countries in the world. But we’ve got to do the hard work, and we will continue to do that.”

She said a “big focus” of the Programme for Government would be on how homes were heated - understood to be a reference to a new bill about district heating systems.

In a later statement, she said: “Today’s Programme for Government is launched in extraordinary political times.

“The UK is in the middle of a constitutional crisis unprecedented in peacetime, as we face being driven off the cliff of a No-deal Brexit by an out-of-control Tory government.

“The Scottish Government and the SNP will do everything in our power to try and prevent that outcome.

“Scotland did not vote for any form of Brexit, and having a catastrophic No-deal Brexit imposed on us is completely unacceptable.

“Amid the meltdown at Westminster, Scotland has a Government and a Parliament that is getting on with the job that people expect us to do.

“The contrast between that and a UK Tory administration whose reckless actions are threatening food and medical shortages could not be starker.

“We have an SNP Government delivering for people, and a right-wing Tory cabal at Westminster who are delivering nothing but chaos.

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“With every day that passes, the case for Scotland becoming an independent country is strengthened, and we will continue to take forward our plans to give people their say on the nation’s future.”

The Scottish Conservatives said Ms Sturgeon’s plans could not be trusted, and published a list of 30 delayed and “botched” promises from previous SNP legislative programmes.

They included shelving a keynote Education Bill to empower headteachers that Education Secretary John Swinney couldn’t make work, a stalled scheme supposed to deliver £500m of economic growth, a failure to cut air departure tax, and various welfare benefit problems.

Tory chief whip Maurice Golden said: “Every year Nicola Sturgeon sets out a range of warm-worded promises, and every year she fails to deliver.

“This is what happens when a nationalist government obsesses about breaking up Britain at the cost of the everyday priorities that should be its concern.

“We can see here that pledges on everything from health and education to justice and the environment have been abandoned, fallen short or simply vanished into thin air.

“With that in mind, why should any sensible voter take seriously what they hear from Nicola Sturgeon this time?

“The programme for government presents an opportunity for the Scottish Government to make a real difference to people’s lives, to the wellbeing of business, and to the health of Scotland’s economy. Instead, the SNP repeatedly squanders these chances, and that’s the hallmark of a complacent and negligent government.”

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said Ms Sturgeon had to step up action on addressing climate change.

He said: “The First Minister declared a climate emergency six months ago, but there has been little in the way of an emergency response since.

“In the face of this crisis we need to accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy. We know we can do this in a way which will create thousands of highly skilled jobs, and improve the quality of life for the people of Scotland.

“Scotland’s economy needs to be transformed, so it serves the people of Scotland and the planet. That means the Scottish Government must use all the powers it has at its disposal to this end.

“Without committing to a truly transformative, emergency response to the climate crisis the Scottish Government will be failing to live up to its responsibilities and the First Minister will be left open to accusations of hypocrisy on the biggest issue of our time.”

Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie added: “The First Minister pretends to be focused on climate change but we know every waking moment is spent on independence. The more time the government spends pushing forwards its independence agenda, the less time it has to focus on delivering public services that work for everyone.

“We are facing crises in health, education and social care, yet the SNP are focused on constitutional conniving.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats will demand better. We will push for teacher and NHS staff to get the support they need and speak for the hundreds of thousands of moderate, reasonable people who want a bright future with Scotland in the UK and the UK in the EU.”