The First Minister has and always will put his political ideology before the best interests of the Scottish people

Annabel Goldie, Scottish Conservatives

The first minister also gave his views on what had been achieved since devolution and the way forward when he addressed an audience at Glasgow University.

Mr McLeish said he wanted to see a "confident, compassionate and competitive Scotland".

And he repeated the executive's pledge to press ahead with introducing free personal care for the elderly.

The first minister said his administration was committed to meeting "producer" interests through schemes like public private partnership, the successor to the private finance initiative.

He said: "We believe that the interests of consumers should be put before those of producers.

'Tough decision'

"Even the best of the traditional public services could lose sight of their main goal - to serve the public - and often did.

"So in the NHS we've set up 300 one-stop clinics organised around patients' needs and for patients' convenience."

Mr McLeish said the executive had also made a "tough decision" on trunk road maintenance contracts in awarding them to the private sector but this would mean "substantial savings".

Mr McLeish repeated his pledge on elderly care

On free personal care for the elderly, he said: "We are determined to spare older people and their families what in other health care systems is called the catastrophic cost of long-term illness.

"Why should people with dementia or stroke have to pay the costs of their care when we don't ask people with more acute illness - such as cancer or heart disease - to pay the cost of theirs?

"That is the injustice we are determined to tackle with our proposals for free personal care - to make Scotland more compassionate."

In his speech the first minister said the creation of a health plan for Scotland was evidence of the way that devolution could make a practical difference.

And he also referred to the paring down of the "untidy legacy" of quangos left over from the pre-devolutionary era.

'Increase opportunity'

Mr McLeish said a commitment to social justice lay at the heart of policy and decision making.

"Social justice means using government to fulfil Scotland's potential - all of Scotland's potential," said Mr McLeish.

"So we will continue to tackle poverty and disadvantage, build and strengthen our communities, and increase opportunity through education and competitiveness."

John Swinney: "Tory-inspired costly scheme"

The first minister did not directly refer to the controversy over the dispersal of asylum seekers in Glasgow, but told his audience of the challenge of "social equality, and social intolerance and racism".

The first minister acknowledged that the relationship between the executive and local government was changing and would continue to change.

"But once more there is a spirit of pragmatism, of realism, of commitment to serving the people of Scotland together," he said.

The Scottish National Party said the first minister's speech amounted to a declaration of more privatisation for Scotland's public services.

Cool response

Party leader John Swinney, said: "The first minister said he wants to put the interests of consumers ahead of producers - but what he has done is put the interests of private financiers ahead of patients.

"It is unbelievable that Mr McLeish should praise the private finance initiative, which is a Tory-inspired, costly scheme which diverts money away from front-line services."

Mr McLeish's speech also drew a cool response from the Scottish Conservatives.

The problem with PFI and PPP funding is that it works against all these fundamentals

Matt Smith, Unison

The party's deputy leader Annabel Goldie said: "The First Minister has and always will put his political ideology before the best interests of the Scottish people.

"His self-proclaimed conversion to public-private partnerships fools no-one."

Mr McLeish's also received a lukewarm reception from Scotland's largest public sector union Unison.

The union's Scottish secretary, Matt Smith, said: "We agree with the first minister that public services should improve people's lives, and deliver social justice, that we should build for the long term, and that teamwork is important in delivering services.

"However the problem with PFI and PPP funding is that it works against all these fundamentals.

"It doesn't improve the service, as the disastrous privatisation of trunk roads maintenance has shown us."