Many of the very serious problems in the justice system do not need legislation, they simply require his government to get a grip. On crime, as with so much else, this executive and this first minister talks tough but delivers precious little.

This is a programme bursting with good Liberal Democrat commitments and I am happy to back it wholeheartedly. Liberal Democrat leader, Nicol Stephen, made reducing business rates a cornerstone of his recent leadership campaign and today's announcement is a fulfilment of that pledge.

(On lowering business rates) Mr McConnell said that he was very keen to do the right thing for Scotland. It is very interesting that when the first minister does the right thing for Scotland in this parliament it's usually something that the Conservatives have been advocating for the last six years.

Does the first minister believe that his welcome u-turn on business rates will close the gap that exists between Scotland and other European countries? Or does he believe that this parliament needs real financial powers to allow it to do so?

Despite what the ministers might say, in its current form, the Planning Bill offers almost nothing new to help tackle the unfairness or imbalance of the current system. In fact in some places the proposals actually curtail a number of important existing rights.

The first minister wants more of everything - more health care, more education, sure, but through his narrow priority of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth he also in effect welcomes more climate pollution and more trade even if it is unfair trade.

We are delighted that the executive are introducing a planning bill, the planning system is out of date and in many cases out of touch with those who use it. In only one month over 1,000 people have chosen to sign the www.everyonecan.org petition calling for the introduction of a limited third party right of appeal. The executive simply cannot continue to ignore this grassroots support

We're very pleased with the executive's announcement that business rates are going to be cut to the level of England's. We've campaigned for this for a very long time. They have a new planning bill, we're pleased with that and they've also said there will be no third party right of appeal into the planning system which was another area of concern.