By Steve Bargeton, political editor

EDUCATION WILL be the top priority for the Labour Party if they form the Scottish Executive after the Holyrood elections in just over three weeks.

Launching their manifesto yesterday First Minister Jack McConnell pledged to make Scottish education the best in the world, but warned that spending in other departments would have to pay for it.

With the SNP ahead in the opinion polls, it was an upbeat Mr McConnell who insisted that he was not “fighting for my job, but for Scotland.”

As had been heavily trailed, the manifesto contained a pledge to halve and then scrap water and sewerage charges for pensioners. Labour would initially reimburse pensioners for half the cost, and ultimately “move towards” abolition.

The council tax system would be changed to include two new bands—one at the top and one at the bottom.

There was also a commitment, as revealed exclusively by The Courier, to scrap tolls on the Tay Road Bridge and remove them for multiple occupancy cars on the Forth Road Bridge. There is also a commitment to build a new Forth crossing and use “emergency legislation if necessary” to do so.

But it was education that dominated the launch of the 103-page manifesto at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow.

“There are no half-measures in our blueprint for the future—no half-hearted attempt to muddle through,” said Mr McConnell. “We will divert national resources to inspire a national passion for learning.”

Mr McConnell added, “Three years from now, we will invest £1.2 billion extra each year into schools, colleges, universities and training programmes.

“We will take steps to monitor our progress against international benchmarks, and secure improvements in every part of Scotland in return for this investment.”

But Mr McConnell made it clear that the cash would have to come from existing budgets and that would mean other departments having to “cut their cloth.”

He said, “Education and learning has to be Scotland’s strategy for the future. That will mean our commitment to the other policy areas will largely be met by existing budgets, by efficiencies and reprioritisation of the existing budgets.

“And the additional resources we have available through overall efficiencies in the Scottish budget and through the additional resources already committed to in the spending review by the Chancellor—those resources will be committed to education.

“That will mean other budgets having to cut their cloth, but it is the right choice for Scotland.”

There was a pledge to recruit 500 new language teachers and, as already announced, a commitment to raise the school leaving age to 18.

Within the first 100 days of a new Labour Executive there would be a new education Bill, which would enshrine in law the right of head teachers to exclude unruly pupils.

Mr McConnell said a detailed plan would also be agreed to bring Scottish class sizes below the OECD average of 19.7 and to keep them there.

Reform of the council tax would involve creating an extra band at the top and the bottom of the scale—by turning Band A and Band H into two bands each. Scotland has just over 11,000 Band H homes.

“The people in the most expensive homes, for example, those whose homes are worth more than £1 million, will pay a little bit more each year to make the system fairer,” said Mr McConnell.

Water and sewerage charges for households where everyone was a pensioner would effectively be scrapped, initially by reducing them by 50% within two years. Pensioner households in a Band D property would be around £180 a year better off as a result.

Labour have also promised to raise the cap on university and college places for the first time in a decade and increase the number of those studying science and technology subjects.

On jobs, there is a pledge to set up a new full employment agency with the aim of getting 100,000 people off benefits and into work.

The manifesto pledges include creating 100 “skills academies” in schools and colleges across the country as part of a drive to make Scotland the “skills capital” of Britain.

Business rate discounts for small firms would be doubled and there would be additional rate cuts for firms involved in research and development.

On health, waiting time targets would be halved, setting a maximum wait by 2011 of 18 weeks from GP referral to treatment, with shorter waits for more urgent treatment.

A new waiting time standard of nine weeks would be introduced for physiotherapists, clinical psychologists and chiropodists by 2011.

On crime, Labour want to name and shame those responsible for anti-social behaviour.

On the environment there are financial incentives for domestic recycling and energy efficiency, and also a Scottish climate change Bill.

The SNP dismissed the council tax and water charge plans as “ill-thought out and unclear” and also dismissed the rest of the manifesto.

SNP Holyrood leader Nicola Sturgeon said, “When there are just 11,000 Band H properties compared to over half a million in Band A, it is ridiculous of Labour to say that a new upper and lower band could be revenue neutral.

“The reality is that a costly revaluation would be required which would hit people across the bands and see 750,000 households pay more.”

And Liberal Democrat campaign chairman Tavish Scott dismissed the manifesto as “spin and gimmicks.”

He said, “Labour’s plan for pensioners is just more spin that fails to cover up the fact that keeping the unfair council tax will mean higher bills for 1,357,000 households.”