'Education not separation' at core of Labour manifesto

Following a series of polls showing the SNP in the lead, the manifesto is an opportunity for Scottish Labour to turn around the campaign.

Mr McConnell is set to argue for "education not separation", with an education bill in the first 100 days - designed to contrast with the SNP's promise of a white paper on independence within the first 100 days.

The bill is expected to include proposals for 100 new skills academies and six science centres of excellence. The problem of young people not in education, employment or training will be tackled by making leaving school before 18 conditional on a teenager going on to full-time education or training.

In primary schools, modern languages, including useful languages such as Mandarin, will be taught from primary three.

Scottish Labour will, for the first time in a decade, raise the cap on university and college places to increase the number of Scots studying science and technology subjects. The manifesto will also set out plans to extend pre-school education.

Mr McConnell is expected to say: "To put Scotland first, we must put education first.

"For Scotland to be the best equipped, most effective and most enlightened, all of our people must be the best educated. My vision for a Scotland most able to influence and inspire over the next 20 years is a vision of a country better educated than our competitors."

On health waiting times, targets will be cut in half so that, by 2011, patients are waiting no longer than 18 weeks from referral by GP to both inpatient and outpatient treatment, with even shorter waiting times for those who need urgent treatment.

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

Yesterday, Mr McConnell promised to boost tourism revenues between now and 2015 by 50 per cent and make Scotland one of the world's foremost tourist destinations. The manifesto will pledge to transfer the marketing of Scotland, for example at airports and via events like Tartan Week, from the civil service to VisitScotland.

With climate change a major issue, there will be financial incentives to recycle and adopt energy efficiency measures. The party will also introduce a Scottish climate change bill setting out green targets for the nation.

Another important issue to voters is affordable housing and Scottish Labour will pledge to double the Homestake scheme, which helps people on modest incomes get on the housing ladder. There will also be a commitment to halve and then remove the water and sewerage charges pensioners pay - which account for a quarter of their total council tax bills.

The manifesto is also expected to include promises of new powers to tackle antisocial behaviour through New York-style community courts, where people have a say in how offenders should "pay back" society, and tougher sentences. A new bill will tackle serious and organised crime.

Mr McConnell is expected to argue the focus on education will help grow the economy in a globalised world.

A plan to help 100,000 people off benefits and into work through a full-employment agency, doubling discounts on business rates for Scotland's smaller companies and new business rate cuts for companies which undertake research and development are also designed to boost the economy.

In contrast, Mr McConnell will accuse the SNP of trying to make Scotland the highest-taxed part of the UK.

A source close to Mr McConnell said: "This will be a radical manifesto packed with ideas to build Scotland's future. It will be the most comprehensive and strategic manifesto by any political party since devolution. Education is at its core and it is ambitious about building the best education system in the world."

• THE Liberal Democrats pledged yesterday to appoint more than a thousand extra teachers to cut class sizes in primary one, two and three to a maximum of 25 pupils.

Nicol Stephen, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, pledged to recruit extra teachers above the current record of 53,000.

The SNP has pledged to cut class sizes for P1-P3 to 18. But Mr Stephen said his was a more realistic target.

"To succeed at school, children need to be able to get individual attention from their teachers.

"To maintain discipline, teachers need a manageable number of children in their class. We will cut class sizes in Scotland's schools to make this happen," he said.

Children have been "demonised" through the government's "obsession" with ASBOs and electronic tagging, according to Patrick Harvie, justice spokesman for the Greens. He said his party would put more money into the children's hearing system instead of youth courts.