Bid to avoid bad press

ALEX Salmond wants details of his plans for a Local Income Tax kept secret so he can be spared "lurid headlines", legal documents have revealed.

The Scottish Government is appealing against a ruling by information commissioner Kevin Dunion that a confidential internal report on the policy by chief economic adviser Andrew Goudie should be published.

Papers submitted to the Court of Session claim ministers require "the time and space to explore options and hammer out policy safe from the threat of lurid headlines".