Election update: Independence back to the fore | Post-debate analysis | Latest opinion polls

Published on Monday 2 May 2011 13:59

Our round-up of all the stories from the Holyrood election campaign trail, plus the picture of the day and political cartoon.

PICTURE OF THE DAY: Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has a close encounter while on the campaign trail for Labour at an Asda supermarket in Livingston (PA)

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL

• The wife of the jailed former MSP Tommy Sheridan will be on the election campaign trail today as it enters the final few days. Gail Sheridan will join her sister-in-law Lynn Sheridan, who is standing as a candidate for Solidarity, in East Kilbride.

• Alex Salmond will join Dave Thomson, SNP candidate for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, in Fort William.

• Labour leader Iain Gray will visit an Asda supermarket store in Livingston.

• Tavish Scott will be joined by Highland MP Charles Kennedy at the tourist attraction Landmark Park in Carrbridge.

• David Mundell, Scotland's only Conservative MP, will join Tory candidates Gill Dykes and Alex Fergusson in Dumfries.

TODAY'S POLL

Who won last night's TV debate?

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IN THE PAPERS...

SNP will defend Scotland best, says new poll

MORE people trust the SNP to defend Scotland's interests when dealing with Westminster than Labour, according to a poll for The Scotsman. With just three days until polling day, the survey of 1,108 voters north of the Border shows 50 per cent believe the SNP is better at standing up for Scotland, while only 31 per cent think Labour is stronger. (The Scotsman)

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Salmond puts brakes on independence poll

Alex Salmond kicked his flagship plans for an independence referendum into the long grass yesterday in a desperate attempt to halt Labour's advances in the opinion polls. In a BBC Leaders debate, he said: "The Scotland Bill legislation is an immediate priority, we have got to get the economic teeth, that pushes the Referendum Bill into the second half of the term." (The Times)

2015: Salmond's pledge on referendum

Alex Salmond last night pledged he would hold an independence referendum by 2015 if he wins the election on Thursday. (Daily Record)

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Labour in desperate fightback

Labour ramped up the anti-independence rhetoric last night as the latest polls showed it is closing the gap on the SNP in the final days before the Scottish election. (The Herald)

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War on bigots

Alex Salmond last night vowed to go to war on bigots - and finally rid Scotland of the scourge of sectarianism. (The Sun)

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Policy before personality for Gray

THERE is more to being First Minister than glad-handing at the golf course. Iain Gray is in the middle of summing up what he thinks has been wrong about the way some people are treating this election campaign. (The Scotsman)

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Salmond hands-down victor in latest TV debate

Alex Salmond last night claimed victory in the latest Holyrood television election debate as polls continued to show the SNP on course for a second term in power. (Daily Express)

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TV clash over 'distraction' of referendum

Plans for a referendum on Scottish independence will not be brought forward until at least 2014, Alex Salmond said yesterday. But the First Minister was told plans for independence would leave Scots "distracted" over the next five years instead of focusing on jobs. (The Scotsman)

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Salmond 'insult' over job losses

As party leaders once again went head-to-head in the penultimate television debate before the election, Alex Salmond was accused of an "outrageous insult" to thousands of workers axed from the public payroll after claiming the job losses were not "significant". (Daily Mail)

Labour slashes SNP election lead

LABOUR has slashed the SNP's lead ahead of Thursday's Scottish Parliament elections as the party fights to deprive Alex Salmond of a return to government, a new Scotland on Sunday poll reveals today. (Scotland on Sunday)

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CARTOON

By Iain Green

OPINION

Unionists fail to force an answer

Brian Monteith: There is a prevailing view that election campaigns are often won or lost by singular moments that propel a leader to defeat or ignominy. The hubris of Kinnock's Sheffield Wednesday and the leaking of a young girl's identity in the case of "Jennifer's Ear" undoubtedly contributed to Labour's defeat in 1992.

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Lack of ideological debate something of a relief

Lesley Riddoch: What's been missing in this Holyrood election? There's been a major poll upset. There's been a spectacular televised gaffe. There've been leaders' debates aplenty, scaremongering, bribes to voters and a general avoidance of detail about the cuts that lie ahead.

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Anti-Tory message has been a failure - however, all is not yet lost

John Curtice: The quote that appears at the beginning of Labour's manifesto, accompanying a picture of a serious looking Iain Gray, states: "Now that the Tories are back, we need a government in Scotland that will fight for what really matters."

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AND FINALLY

Politicians in Holyrood have all been saying Scotland needs to rely less on handouts from Westminster. Nobody seems to have told BBC Scotland which, in its debate last night, used cast-offs from last year's Westminster election, the podiums from last year's prime ministerial debates.

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