Election update: Miliband heads north | Tavish uneasy over coalition | SNP manifesto in spotlight

Published on Friday 15 April 2011 13:55

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

PIC OF THE DAY: Would Iain Gray be a safe pair of hands for Scotland? Well not on this evidence, although he was up against Messi (Edinburgh schooboy Jack McNeil). Pic: Ian Rutherford

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL...

• Labour leader Ed Miliband is campaigning in Scotland today. He joined Scottish leader Iain Gray and party members to speak to apprentices and staff at the world's largest helicopter services company, in Aberdeen, before heading to a call centre in Dundee. The pair will be at CHC Helicopter, before meeting workers at a Tesco Call Centre in Dundee to highlight Scottish unemployment figures.

• A re-elected SNP government would aim to boost Scottish exports by 50% over the next six years, the party said today. During a visit to Deanston Distillery in Doune, Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "With the right support, the SNP believe that Scottish business can deliver a 50% increase in exports over the next six years. Our food and drink industry will play a key role in meeting that target."

• The Scottish Liberal Democrats told islanders today that the extension of a cut-price fare scheme for ferries to the Western Isles was an "electoral bribe" which excludes the rest of the Scottish islands. Speaking on the Isle of Bute, Lib Dem campaign chair George Lyon repeated the claim made last year that the road equivalent tariff (RET) amounted to a "desperate" attempt to "hang on to an island seat".

• Conservatives have pledged to create a 10 million fund to ensure cancer drugs available south of the border are obtainable in Scotland. Speaking from Ayr today, leader Annabel Goldie said it is unacceptable that drugs recommended by doctors to patients in England and Wales are not available in Scotland.

• The Greens have set out plans for the next Scottish Parliament to protect Royal Mail in Scotland from privatisation. The party will seek to open negotiations with UK ministers to keep Royal Mail's operations north of the border in public hands. Co-leader Patrick Harvie launched the proposals outside the recently closed Crosshill Post Office in Glasgow today.

• Online mug shots and tougher prisons are amongst the policies on the table from a pair of independent Holyrood candidates who have joined forces to fight crime. Anti-knives campaigner Caroline Johnstone and former homeless sector worker Mev Brown have agreed to work together on law and order issues if elected to Holyrood. Mrs Johnstone is standing on the Glasgow list after resigning as a Justice of the Peace earlier this year, in the wake of the death of teenager Reamonn Gormley, while Mr Brown is standing on the Lothian list.

IN THE PAPERS...

Leaders sidestep Judy Murray's PE plea

THE SNP and Labour yesterday unveiled their plans to turn round Scotland's dismal health record by encouraging more sport in schools, but fell short of meeting demands for youngsters to have four hours' PE a week. This week, Judy Murray, the mother of the tennis star Andy, wrote to The Scotsman to say she wanted to see primary school children getting a four-hour "minimum" - double the amount of exercise currently enjoyed by the most active pupils. (The Scotsman)

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Ed Miliband: Cameron wants SNP victory

LABOUR leader Ed Miliband hits the campaign trail in Aberdeen and Dundee today. Writing in the Daily Record, he says David Cameron is praying for an SNP victory on May 5: "David Cameron has nothing to fear from an SNP win here. He doesn't want to give Labour a boost, because we are the only party who consistently stand up to his unfair cuts. And David Cameron doesn't want his Conservative-led coalition to be shown up by what a Labour government in Scotland would do."

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Scott admits Tory link is 'bad for Scottish Lib Dems'

Tavish Scott, the Scottish Liberal Democrats leader, has admitted that his Holyrood campaign has been damaged by being part of the Westminster Coalition Government with the Conservatives. "Being connected with the Conservatives is not terribly easy for my party," said Mr Scott. "I think we can conclude definitively that with hindsight the coalition has been a bad idea for the Scottish Liberal Democrats." (Daily Express)

Salmond under fire for 'cloud cuckoo' promise on energy

ALEX Salmond launched his bid for a second term in office yesterday, by declaring Scotland can be powered entirely by renewable energy in just nine years, provoking claims from one industry leader that he was living in "cloud cuckoo land". (The Scotsman)

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Salmond's 1bn election bribe

ALEX Salmond was last night accused of a 1billion election 'bribe' after promising to freeze council tax for five years. Cosla, the umbrella body for local authorities, warned that "the tab has to be picked up by someone, somewhere." (Daily Mail)

Independence referendum not a 'deal-breaker' for Scott

SCOTTISH Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott has hinted the issue of a referendum on independence would not be a "deal-breaker", in a potential coalition with the SNP. Mr Scott said his preference would be for a "stable Scottish Government" and that he would talk "constructively" to whichever party won the most seats in May's election. (The Scotsman)

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Who will pay for SNP's council tax pledge?

The council tax would remain frozen until 2016 under plans unveiled by the SNP yesterday but local authority leaders issued an immediate "health warning" over the affordability of the measure.

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Number of police forces may be cut to just three

THE SNP has based savings in law and order on the assumption that there will not be a single national police force after the next election, documents revealed yesterday. Financial papers accompanying the party's manifesto show that the party has calculated savings on the basis of a move to "three or four police forces", not one.

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BBC 'bias' row continues

THE BBC has been accused of bias after SNP leader Alex Salmond was invited to appear on its flagship politics programme Question Time last night. Labour candidate and former broadcaster David Whitton said: "This is a bizarre example of BBC bias. You'd have thought an experienced broadcaster like David Dimbleby would know this is a clear breach of rules." (The Scotsman)

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IN BRIEF

• The SNP will be popping a leaflet through every letterbox in Scotland (that's around 2.4million) to reinforce their council tax pledge.

• The Scottish Greens have accused the SNP of relying too heavily on assumed savings from the 2.3 billion previously allocated to an additional Forth road bridge to fund its spending plans. "Having a few hundred million off the cost is both implausible and essentially irrelevant," said the party's co-convener, Patrick Harvie.

TODAY'S CARTOON

By Iain Green

• Leader of the Scottish Greens Patrick Harvey will be taking part in a live webchat on scotsman.com on Monday, April 18 at 12pm.

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