GOOD race relations and equal opportunities could be put at the heart of the Scottish Parliament's agenda by creating a powerful standing committee to monitor and feed into all Holyrood legislation, the SNP suggested yesterday, writes Robbie Dinwoodie, Scottish Political Correspondent.

Party leader Alex Salmond blamed Government intransigence for the failure of race relations legislation to be devolved down to Edinburgh, but he insisted that there was still a job to be done by the devolved Parliament in implementing existing law and ensuring that new legislation in a variety of area was well-framed.

He was flanked by Bashir Ahmed, convener of Scots Asians for Independence, the party grouping launched less than three years ago and which now had more than 500 members. ''Based on my own experience and work in recent years, I believe the SNP's positive policies will be reflected in the Scottish Parliament election result, and that a majority of Scots Asians will vote for the SNP next May,'' he said.

Mr Salmond pledged: ''If successful next May, the SNP will establish a committee within the new Parliament which will monitor, oversee and promote race relations matters. The committee would be able to examine issues across the social spectrum, including housing, education, social deprivation, and restricted employment and training, as well as racial harassment.''

He gave warning: ''Compla-

cency is the very last thing we should have in Scotland. Racially motivated incidents have been on the rise in Scotland. I don't think we can be comfortable with our recent track record.''