The Scottish Government's new mental health strategy has been criticised for "lacking ambition" within hours of its launch.

Charity, the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH), was among critics of the strategy presented to Holyrood by mental health minister Maureen Watt on Thursday.

Watt pledged to invest more than £300m over the next five years to improve mental health care as part of a ten-year plan.

But SAMH said the Scottish Government could have done more.

Its chief executive, Billy Watson, said the publication of the new strategy was "long overdue".

While the charity was pleased by some of Watt's recommendations, he added: "We are disappointed it lacks the ambition and investment that Scotland deserves, especially for children and young people.

"We need to make mental health a priority across all government departments if Scotland is to be bold and innovative once again."

Earlier Watt told MSPs: "None of the improvements to mental health services will be realised without having the right staff in the right place.

"We will work to give access to dedicated mental health professionals to all A&Es, all GP practices, every police station custody suite and to our prisons.

"Over the next five years, that will mean increasing additional investment to £35m for 800 additional mental health workers in those key settings."

Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Liberal Democrat's health spokesman, said the strategy was published "more than 450 days late" and did not match the SNP's rhetoric on the issue.

Scottish Conservative mental health spokesman Miles Briggs said: "This mental health strategy simply doesn't live up to the promises the First Minister [Nicola Sturgeon] has made on rights, resources and reforms.

"The mental health strategy is a missed opportunity and is simply not good enough to deliver a new approach to mental health in Scotland. SNP ministers need to think again."

The plans were also criticised by Scottish Labour's Monica Lennon, who said it "is nowhere near the scale of ambition we need for improving mental health outcomes in Scotland".