The executive is making no eleventh hour attempt to avert defeat at Holyrood today over the Edinburgh trams scheme, officials said last night.
Speaking last night after the cabinet agreed its position on the two schemes which will go before MSPs today - the Edinburgh airport rail link (EARL) and the trams scheme, which have a combined value of £1.2b - an aide to Alex Salmond said: "We will argue our corner and the vote will fall where it falls."
Labour, LibDems and Conservatives have rallied round a motion backing the trams scheme, provided it can be done within the existing budget, and keeping the Earl scheme alive pending a further vote at a later date. A Green compromise motion linking a vote for the trams to an associated rail link has not been selected for consideration.
A busy final cabinet meeting before the summer recess was dominated by transport issues. Ministers signed off an agreed position on a new Forth road bridge which will go before parliament today.
Cabinet also agreed to approach the heads of Network Rail and the RMT union, urging them to have further talks before a damaging rail strike goes ahead.
On the Edinburgh trams and airport link projects, a spokesman for the First Minister said: "Clearly, the executive motion indicates how important it was to invite Audit Scotland to carry out their exercise, which brought out information that would never have been there."
Meanwhile, the Justice Secretary said yesterday the SNP would not set out its legislative programme until nearly six months after taking power. During questioning by opposition MSPs on the justice committee, Kenny MacAskill said it would be "the latter part of autumn" before the executive set out its law-making plans .
His response drew severe criticism from the executive's political opponents, who said the new administration should be embarrassed by the delay.
However, it also emerged yesterday that the cabinet would continue to meet during the two-month parliamentary recess, which begins after business closes tomorrow. Mr Salmond has not booked any leave while rolling out his pre-election plan for his first 100 days in office - a timetable that takes him until late August.
Mr MacAskill yesterday became the first executive minister to appear before a parliamentary committee since last month's election.
Labour back bencher Bill Butler suggested the executive had "hit the ground strolling" and should be in a position now to tell parliament what laws it wanted to pass.
Mr Butler, MSP for Glasgow Anniesland, said: "I'm quite disappointed the Cabinet Secretary hasn't been able to come along here and be more specific about the outline areas where the government is considering legislation. I wouldn't want the present government to be accused of hitting the ground strolling in terms of a legislative programme."
Mr MacAskill said: "It is our aim to return to parliament, probably in the latter part of autumn, with legislation but, at the moment, I'm not in a position to say what that will be."
Although the executive has announced plans to introduce a bill to scrap tolls on the Forth and Tay bridges, as well as publish a Climate Change Bill by the end of 2008, further details of its legislative programme have not been forthcoming.
Bill Aitken, convener of the justice committee and a Tory MSP, said it was vital ministers set out their plans soon.
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