Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Party leaders in final TV debate ahead of election

The leaders of Scotland's political parties will go head-to-head in a live TV debate.
The leaders of Scotland's political parties will go head-to-head in a live TV debate.

Party leaders in Scotland will face each other in a final TV debate today before the country goes to the polls.

Nicola Sturgeon, Jim Murphy, Willie Rennie and Ruth Davidson will take part in the live BBC debate in Edinburgh in what will be one of the final big events of the election campaign in Scotland.

Before the debate, the parties will host various events across the country as they continue to make the case for their support.

SNP leader Ms Sturgeon will meet families at a play area in Motherwell where she will call on people across Scotland to “unite on May 7 to put an end to austerity, and to invest in things which matter to people in Scotland like the NHS and childcare, rather than Trident”.

SNP activists will also host around 600 street stalls across the country today as they step up campaigning in the final week.

A party spokesman said: “There is strong underlying support for our proposition that a team of SNP MPs holding the balance of power will be good for Scotland, and indeed good for the UK as a whole.

“More people still believe that than are currently intending to vote SNP, and that is crucial in continuing to win undecided voters over to the SNP.

“Our experience is that most previously undecided voters are choosing to be part of this unprecedented opportunity to make Scotland stronger at Westminster – that is our call in these final few days.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Kezia Dugdale will join Edinburgh South candidate Ian Murray in the capital to spread their party’s message.

Mr Murphy was joined by former prime minister Gordon Brown on the campaign trail yesterday.

Mr Brown said: “Labour are Scottish patriots who believe in the need for change and stand for social justice.

“While the SNP get up in the morning thinking of how they can achieve independence, we get up in the morning thinking of how we can achieve social justice.

“All the nationalists talk of is deals, pacts and coalitions. Labour are focused on ending austerity, unemployment and the need for food banks.”

The Lib Dems will also be in the capital before the debate with Mr Rennie being joined by former UK party leader Sir Menzies Campbell and Edinburgh West candidate Mike Crockart.

The will say that the Lib Dems will ” anchor a government in the centre ground” if they have an influence.