Scots Tory leader attacks SNP government as 'left-wing' and 'living in the past'

Miss Goldie, left, hit out at the SNP administration, accusing ministers of "living in the past" when it came to public services.

"The SNP's left-wing agenda for Scotland's public services is starting to emerge," she said.

"They may have succeeded in keeping it under wraps during the election, but there is only so long you can hide your true colours."

The Conservative leader in Scotland said decisions taken on education, prisons, health and the future of Scottish Water all supported her argument.

Opposition politicians have accused the Scottish Government of scrapping the "Schools of Ambition" scheme and Miss Goldie said: "The decision to scrap the Schools of Ambition scheme demonstrated socialist dogma at its worst." On justice, she claimed: "The SNP have achieved the incredible feat of even making Scottish Labour seem more in touch with public opinion."

She hit out at SNP proposals to extend the use of the home detention curfew scheme – which allows prisoners to be released early under electronic tagging – and said: "They want to empty our prisons, as proved by a determination to extend home detention curfews to more violent offenders."

She also said the government had refused to form partnerships with private-sector health providers, branding this "nothing less than political ideology getting in the way of patient care".