Alex Salmond is to mint bravery medals to reward civilian acts of heroism as an alternative to the gallantry awards bestowed by the Queen.

The St Andrew’s medal will be used to honour outstanding acts of bravery such as those of the Glasgow airport workers who helped foil last year’s terrorist attack.

Currently, candidates for bravery awards such as the George Cross, George Medal, the Queen’s Gallantry Medal and the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery are submitted to the monarch by the UK government.

Salmond, who has already indicated that he plans to introduce an alternative honours system if Scotland becomes independent, is now keen to launch bravery awards to run in tandem with those awarded by the Queen.

The medals will be presented at annual ceremonies hosted by the first minister at Edinburgh and Stirling castles on St Andrew’s day.

The new St Andrew’s medal is likely to be used to give official recognition to the Glasgow airport heroes who have not been honoured by the Queen.

While the baggage handler John Smeaton received the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for Bravery in March, others who played a key role on the day of the attack such as Alex McIlveen, Michael Kerr, Stephen Clarkson, Sgt Torquil Campbell and PC Stewart Ferguson — were overlooked.

They were among 20 men and women honoured last year by Salmond at a reception in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Museum. The first minister told members of the emergency, health and civic services who helped deal with the attack that the country was “in their debt”.

Others expected to receive the award include nine-year-old Nathan Thomson, from Rosyth, who was stabbed in the face after he tackled an armed intruder who was trying to kill his mother.

Frank Mulholland, the solicitor-general for Scotland, recommended that the youngster, whose face has been scarred for life, be given a bravery award for his courage. Salmond recently described Nathan as an “exceptional young man”.

Awards will also be made posthumously. Salmond recently handed out medals to survivors and relatives of those who died in Britain’s worst maritime disaster, the sinking of the troop ship Lancastria off the French coast by German bombers in 1940, with the loss of more than 4,000 lives.

At the time, Winston Churchill banned coverage of the disaster, fearing the scale of it would weaken public morale.

A spokesman for Salmond said: “A St Andrew’s medal to recognise and honour bravery by civilians is an idea that can carry broad support.

“There are many awe inspiring acts of bravery — past and present — which merit tangible recognition, and as a society we can do a great deal better in honouring and thanking people to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.”

Plans for the new award will be discussed in a debate at the SNP’s autumn conference next month.

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