Celtic director and former government minister Brian Wilson has hit out over this week's Old Firm summit, accusing the Scottish Government of "rampant opportunism".

The former Labour MP and trade minister told STV's Politics Now programme that the reaction to last week's Scottish Cup replay between Celtic and Rangers, which saw three players sent off and a touchline confrontation between Celtic manager Neil Lennon and Rangers assistant Ally McCoist, as "disproportionate".

Ugly scenes on and off the pitch prompted Strathclyde Police to call for a summit meeting, chaired by First Minister Alex Salmond, to discuss how the clubs should tackle the spikes in violence, domestic abuse and sectarianism that accompany each fixture.

But Mr Wilson suggested the summit appeared to have more to do with the forthcoming Scottish Parliament elections than concern for public safety.

He said: "Whether Alex Salmond or anyone else wants the message that was coming out from Scotland to be that managers and players in football matches can be arrested, I don't think that's a great message to send to the world and I don't think it's proportionate to what actually happened.

"A summit in response to a football match makes great headlines, big headlines, big dramas when there's an election coming up in a few weeks. I don't know what the motives precisely were, but I do not believe that it is addressing sectarianism or the ills of Scottish society to hold that sort of event.

"I think that the way Alex Salmond should be judged is: what's he actually done about sectarianism over the past four years? Has he maintained the initiatives that were there when he came in? I'm not sure that he has."

After the summit in Edinburgh on Tuesday, Strathclyde Police's Chief Constable Stephen House old a press conference that his officers would be giving a "in-depth briefing" to players on their legal responsibilities.

He said police officers would brief players on specific responsibilities, although arrests on the pitch would be "a last resort beyond all belief" because police were not seeking to "inflame" the situation.

Rangers and Celtic issued a six-point plan after the meeting calling for the creation of a pan-Scottish police football intelligence unit and greater enforcement of existing legislation to deal with sectarianism and drink-related offences.

The clubs also want the establishment of a task force comprising of senior police officers, members of the government and club security personnel to deliver more consistency in policing of football matches across Scotland, and a re-enforced code of conduct for players and officials.

And they have agreed to a range of measures to try to help the fight against domestic abuse and violence which surrounds Old Firm fixtures.

Police figures show incidents of violent crime and domestic abuse rise by 250% when the Old Firm fixture is played on a Saturday, while disorder is four times more severe.

Following the summit, the Scottish Government announced more than £500,000 will be invested in tackling sectarianism in Scotland.