A former SNP justice secretary has admitted a key election pledge to increase the number of police officers in Scotland by 1,000 was "plucked from thin air".
Kenny MacAskill was responsible for delivering the policy when the Nationalists took power at Holyrood for the first time in 2007.
The former MSP said there was a recognition at the time that the number of cops needed to rise - but the final figure reached was "arbitrary".
Scottish Labour branded the revelation "shocking" while the Scottish Conservatives called for the SNP to "come clean" on how many officers were needed in 2022.
Scotland's former regional constabularies had a combined total of 16,234 officers in 2007 - and that number was subsequently increased by 1,000 within two years.
The SNP dropped the pledge at the 2016 election but the 17,234 figure remains Police Scotland's chosen benchmark for a "full budgeted officer establishment".
MacAskill told 1919 magazine the number had been "plucked from thin air".
The MP, who quit the SNP to join Alba last year, added: "We needed more officers. But the number itself was arbitrary – it was never based on anything specific."
Pauline McNeill, Scottish Labour justice spokeswoman, said: "It is simply shocking for a party of Government to admit that its manifesto pledges are works of fiction.
"While communities suffer antisocial behaviour and violent crime is on the rise - how can the Scottish public trust the SNP at the next election?"
Jamie Greene, Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, said: "It is no coincidence that with fewer police officers than at any time since 2008, violent crime has now risen to its highest level in a decade.
"17,234 has been the benchmark for police officer numbers for 15 years. With Scotland’s population and rates of violent crime both increasing, this is now shamefully out of date – as the former SNP Justice Secretary himself admits.
"But the fact remains that the SNP are failing to meet even this, inadequate target – missing the mark by over 400 police officers according to the latest figures.
"This shocking decline exposes just how little the SNP Government really cares about public safety.
"It is now clear the SNP plucked this arbitrary target out of thin air, but since then have abandoned any real commitment to increasing police numbers or tackling crime.
"The SNP must now come clean about how many police officers Scotland really needs in 2022 – and, more importantly, take action to actually achieve this new target.”
A spokesman for justice secretary Keith Brown said: "The Tories’ claims reek of hypocrisy.
"Police officer numbers here in Scotland are still well up from what the SNP inherited in 2007 and, crucially, remain well above officer levels in England, where the Tories are in charge.
"The latest figures show that there are around 32 officers per 10,000 population in Scotland compared to around only 23 officers per 10,000 population in England and Wales."
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