Nicola Sturgeon announces domestic abuse laws, walking and cycling funding

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced new domestic abuse powers for police and courts, £27m in schemes to make it easier for people to cycle and walk, and SNP policies including expanding childcare into the school holidays.

The initiatives were revealed in her independence-heavy speech to close SNP conference in Aberdeen on Tuesday afternoon.

The Scottish Government will introduce a bill to parliament which will create new protective orders to keep a suspected perpetrator away from the household of someone at risk of abuse, the government later said in a statement.

The orders would allow police to make the application on behalf of the person at risk, and police will be able to impose a short-term order directly “and to apply to a court to put in place a longer-term order”.

The walking and cycling funding will be put towards 200 projects, including a new walking and cycling route in the north of Glasgow, the regeneration of Ayr town centre and green infrastructure travel links in Aberdeen, the government later said.

Sturgeon announced, if the SNP is returned to government after the 2021 Holyrood election, the party will “expand childcare into the school holidays for primary pupils from the poorest backgrounds”.

And, as earlier reported, she revealed if re-elected as First Minister “over the next parliament, the SNP will scrap non-residential social care charges for all”.

She received a standing ovation from delegates when she confirmed her intention for an independence referendum to be held next year, and that she will request a Section 30 order by the end of 2019.

“The process by which we choose Scotland’s future must be capable of actually achieving independence,” she said.

“It must allow majority support to be expressed clearly and unambiguously, it must be legal, and it must have the recognition of the international community.

“The other parties are so lacking in confidence that a referendum can be blocked that they’re now trying to rig the question.

“Just like us, they know there is going to be a referendum. And they know that when there is, Scotland will choose independence.  Support is rising. Our task is to build it even further and make the demand irresistible.”

She also had strong words for UK parliament, saying “For Scotland, Brexit shows that the Westminster system is broken. And it is broken utterly beyond repair.”