Kenny MacAskill was accused yesterday of creating a “soft-touch Scotland” and curbing the power of judges after calling for an end to short-term prison sentences.

The Justice Secretary wants jail terms of six months or less to be officially discouraged and replaced by “tough” community orders.

He claimed that the orders are a more effective deterrent against crime than jail and would help to ease overcrowding in Scottish prisons.

But the SNP’s plans to change sentencing policy were condemned by opposition politicians.

Labour claimed that the measures would leave some sex offenders, knife criminals and people convicted of serious assault more likely to “dodge” jail.

Richard Baker, the party’s justice spokesman, said: “The public will be quite rightly outraged at this move. The SNP has basically established a criminals’ charter where offenders will know they have a good chance of dodging jail even though they have committed sometimes serious crimes.”

Bill Aitken, the Tory justice spokesman, said: "From looking at these proposals there is no longer any doubt - the SNP is hellbent on creating a soft-touch Scotland and the plans outlined are nothing more than a recipe for disaster.”

Mr Aitken added that more prisons should be built to accommodate the growing numbers of offenders being sent to jail.

"Not only is the Scottish government intent on curbing the power of what is supposedly an independent judiciary but it is actively moving away from considering prison as a valid option for offenders, which is unacceptable,” he said.

Under the SNP's Community Payback Sentence scheme, offenders would start unpaid work within a week and finish inside six months.

Mr MacAskill, on a visit to Polmont Young Offenders Institute, said: “I won't sit back and see low-risk offenders on short sentences get free bed and board when they could be paying back to the communities they harm,”

The Justice Secretary said that 58 per cent of offenders given a community service order have kept a clean record after two years compared with 26 per cent of those sentenced to six months or less in jail.

Mr MacAskill wants judges to avoid imposing custodial sentences of six months or less unless they feel there is no other option. Judges would be allowed to hold review hearings to check the progress of community sentences.

Tagging is also to be introduced for judges considering breach of bail, extending its use from areas such as home detention curfews at the end of a prisoner's sentence. A Scottish Sentencing Council would also be established to bring greater “consistency and transparency” to the sentencing process.

The controversial changes come after a report by the Prisons Commission, chaired by Henry McLeish, the former First Minister, which called for fewer criminals to be jailed and community sentencing to be toughened up.

The prison population in Scotland is 7,770. Ministers claim the number is rising despite offending levels being at a 25-year low.

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