Proposals for more devolution for Scotland are likely to be unveiled within the next fortnight.

However, they are unlikely to be implemented before the general election. The SNP denounced the move as "empty promises" and said some Calman Commission proposals on devolution will end up being binned.

The commitment to "take forward" proposals in the final report of the Calman Commission was included in the Queen's Speech on Wednesday. The Government plans are likely to be published in a White Paper in the next two weeks. Eight of the ten Bills announced in the Queen's Speech will apply to Scotland.

But SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson said: "This is less legislative programme and more of a closing-down sale by a tired Government that is out of time.

"It is clear that time is up for the Calman Commission. If Labour were more serious about more responsibilities for the Scottish Parliament, the speech would have included actual legislation before the general election, not simply empty promises."

The SNP said an early online version of the Queen's Speech on the Number 10 Downing Street website omitted the reference to Calman. It was later corrected. Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy claimed the legislative programme would help Scotland from recession to recovery.

"It is about strengthening economic growth and locking in the recovery, laying the foundations for the green, digital economy of the future," he said.

Mr Murphy said proposed legislation requiring the budget deficit to be reduced would help Scottish businesses and investors make long-term decisions with more confidence.

Hundreds of Scots media and technology firms will benefit from measures in the digital economy Bill to build a digital infrastructure for the UK, while the energy Bill will help 100,000 pensioner households in Scotland out of fuel poverty, he said.

And the financial services Bill will safeguard Scottish financial jobs will ensuring that "greed and risk-taking" by bankers would never again damage the living standards of Scots families, he said.

Liberal Democrat spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: "If this is the Government's big election pitch, then Labour backbenchers must be despairing that they have already lost.

"The vast majority of people in Scotland want more powers for the Scottish Parliament. Unless the UK Government publishes a Bill before Christmas, they're not going to get any change from Labour.

"A Bill would also test the Tories' commitment to real change for Scotland."