McConnell attacks Salmond for ending anti-bigotry summits

JACK McConnell, the former first minister, has attacked his successor Alex Salmond for ending a series of summits on sectarianism despite recent attacks on Rangers and Celtic players.

He branded Mr Salmond as "weak and complacent" for ignoring his plea for another sectarianism summit in the Scottish Parliament.

The call came after the Celtic coach and former player Neil Lennon was attacked in Glasgow following an Old Firm match. It was also reported that Rangers star Nacho Novo was put under guard after his address was published on the internet.

But when asked if he would reconvene a summit on the issue, Mr Salmond told MSPs: "This government and everyone in this chamber believes and knows that sectarianism is a continuing problem in Scottish society. It is one of the ills that afflicts us."

Mr McConnell told MSPs the attacks showed bigotry is not yet "in the dustbin of history".

Afterwards, a furious Mr McConnell said: "I am extremely disappointed at the weak response from the First Minister.

"A sectarianism summit would take half a day from his diary in the next 12 months and he refused to commit to any action to maintain the progress of recent years and end the appearance of complacency.

"I urge him to think seriously about leading Scotland on this matter and not be left behind."

But a spokeswoman for Mr Salmond insisted he wanted to build on Mr McConnell's work and look at all forms of discrimination in Scotland, not just religious problems, through the One Scotland Campaign.

She said: "We will continue to promote constructive dialogue between faith and belief communities and enhance the interaction these communities have with all levels of government."

A spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland said the Church did not want to enter the argument. But he added: "We support any efforts to stamp out sectarianism and look forward to the Scottish Government's proposals in this regard."

Rev Ian Galloway, convener of the Kirk's church and society council, said: "The Church is happy to work with the Scottish Government's One Scotland Many Cultures campaign.

"But there is still a large residual element of sectarianism that is still a problem for individuals, whether they are famous footballers or unknown ordinary people, and we must still make it clear that attacking people because of their religion is unacceptable."