Alex Salmond yesterday handed down a legislative programme that guarantees an autumn of intense political activity.

Unveiling plans for 15 Bills, he placed his “big bang” legislation - the plan to abolish council tax and replace it with a local income tax - at the centre of the debate.

And, while the programme may not be as ambitious as Mr Salmond, who leads a minority administration, would probably have wished, there is no doubt that it contains much more legislative flesh than the almost skeletal agenda that he presented to Parliament at the same time last year.

At least as controversial as the local income tax, however, are the SNP's plans to prohibit the sale of alcohol to people under 21. Alex Salmond told the Holyrood parliament that a consultation on proposals for drinks restrictions would end later this month.

The proposals included banning off-sale drinks to under-21s, setting a minimum price for alcoholic drinks, and introducing a “social responsibility fee” that would require the drinks and retail trade to pay reparation if they were found to have been selling acohol irresponsibly.

“We will reflect on the results of that consultation and use this Bill (the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill) to bring into effect those proposals which require primary legislation,” he said.

The Tories, however, pledged to fight the plan. “We will continue to lead the opposition to the ludicrous plans to criminalise a responsible, 20 year-old adult who wants to buy a bottle of wine to take home and celebrate the birth of his baby,” said the Tory leader Annabel Goldie.

“We will also fight against stigmatising the pensioner who wants to buy alcohol in the supermarket and would be forced to line up in a special ‘drinks only' queue.”

Scottish Grocers' Federation [SGF]executive John Drummond said that the legislation would create “ridiculous anomalies” that would penalise adults who drink responsibly and increase the burden of regulation and costs for legitimate businesses.

“SGF are concerned the measures will have little effect on problem drinkers and have outlined our industry's views in our response to the Scottish government's alcohol consultation, to be submitted later this week,” it said.

Other elements of the Criminal Justice and Licensing Bill will include plans to introduce community sentences, rather than prison, for a wider range of offences. At the same time it will ensure serious and violent offenders are dealt with “firmly and effectively” in prison, said Mr Salmond.

It will also reform criminal law procedures and, along with the creation of a sentencing council, will ensure public confidence in sentencing decisions, he added.

Labour's Pauline McNeill said Scots would be “astounded” that there was no mention of ending automatic early release for prisoners. “Ending automatic early release was a commitment from the SNP that has got lost, and if Kenny MacAskill [the Justice Minister] wants to build on confidence in the justice system he needs to ensure that he takes action on early release this year,” she said.

“Scotland will be astounded if there is no progress on this issue as it reflects the SNP attitude to victims of crime.”

A Scottish government spokesman said later: “We are considering how we might deliver a more coherent penal policy, including any amendments to the measures in the Custodial Sentence and Weapons Act, and will do so before the end of the year.”

Like most governments around the world, Mr Salmond's administration has also whole-heartedly embraced the idea of “green” legislation with a raft of Bills covering climate change, the marine environment and flooding.

Of the three environmental Bills announced today, the Climate Change Bill, was described by WWF Scotland as possibly “the most important piece of Scottish legislation we will see in our lifetimes”.

Mr Salmond said that the Bill would introduce a target to reduce emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, exceeding the UK's Government's target of 60 per cent. “Urgent action is needed to cut emissions which cause climate change,” he said.

However, environmental campaigners restated calls for the Bill to include annual emissions targets. WWF Scotland director Richard Dixon said that ministers must ensure “mandatory annual emission reduction targets of at least 3 per cent” are in the legislation. Patrick Harvie, the Green MSP, said binding annual targets for cutting Scotland's emissions had been “stripped out” of the Bill.

He added: “Annual targets make ministers responsible, while a 2050 target is a licence for inaction.”

Labour environment spokeswoman Ms Boyack said: “It will be a long haul to reduce our carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, if the government doesn't give the right lead now there's no absolutely no chance of meeting this target. We need action now.”

Three other pieces of legislation are aimed at improving the lives of young people. Emphasising the “fundamental importance of a good start in life,” Mr Salmond announced measures to halt closures of rural schools - something he said could cause “real hardship”. His government is proposing a Bill that will introduce a presumption against closure.

There are about 1,000 rural schools in Scotland and the Safeguarding Rural Schools Bill also sets out to improve the consultation procedure if a council is considering shutting one.

The government also plans a Bill to strengthen and clarify the law in relation to the education of children and young people with additional support needs, while further legislation - the Children's Hearings Bill - is planned to modernise the children's hearing system. Other measures, which do not require legislation, include the extension of free school meals entitlement to pupils whose families receive both maximum child tax credit and maximum working tax credit from August 2009.

Labour's education spokeswoman, Rhona Brankin, claimed that extending free school meals had “been lifted from the Labour manifesto”.

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