Scotland’s political leaders will step their campaigning up a gear as the race for Holyrood enters its final few days.
With voters going to the polls on Thursday, the parties’ final push to boost their support is now under way.
After the leaders of the main parties clashed in a live TV debate on Sunday night, they are all back on the election trail this morning.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, who is urging people to elect her as First Minister for the first time, will be campaigning in Edinburgh, where she will focus on the choice facing Scots.
Ms Sturgeon will say: “With just a few days until polling day, the choice facing Scotland in this election is becoming clearer – who do we want to form the next Government and be Scotland’s First Minister? And the SNP is the only party with a positive, ambitious plan to move Scotland forward.”
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale will be focusing on the key message from her campaign – that Labour would increase taxes to spend more on services when Holyrood gets new powers – as she speaks to voters in Dunfermline, Fife.
Ms Dugdale said her party would “use the new powers of the Scottish Parliament to tax the richest 1% so we can invest in our schools, and stop the cuts to our public services”.
She added: “More Labour MSPs in the next parliament means more voices standing against the cuts and for investment in public services.
“If people want to stop the cuts so we can invest in the future of our economy then they need to give both of their votes to Labour. Voting for the SNP and the Tories is a vote for more cuts. Only Labour has a positive plan to stop the cuts and invest in the future.”
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson will also be highlighting her core message, that she is the best person to stand up to Ms Sturgeon and the SNP, as she seeks to oust Labour from its position as the largest opposition party at Holyrood.
Ms Davidson, who will be campaigning in Musselburgh, will also stress the Tories’ commitment to blocking any attempt to hold a second independence referendum in the five years of the next parliament.
Similarly Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie will say that Ms Sturgeon “has made clear she wants to spend the next five years plotting a second independence referendum and not improving our public services” as he campaigns in Edinburgh.
Mr Rennie, who will visit a go-kart centre with Edinburgh Western candidate Alex Cole Hamilton, will add: “Scotland cannot afford to wait for the SNP. Liberal Democrats will use new powers to raise tax by a penny to deliver a transformational investment in Scotland’s nurseries, schools and colleges. We will also address Scotland’s GP shortage and mental health needs with urgent action. We don’t need to wait. We can be the best again. That’s the Liberal Democrat offer.”
With the Scottish Greens hoping to win a record number of MSPs on Thursday, party co-convener Patrick Harvie will rally activists in Glasgow.
