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SNP set to launch Holyrood election manifesto SNP unveils 'most ambitious' manifesto
(about 11 hours later)
The SNP has pledged to take election campaigning "to the next level" as it launches its manifesto for May's Holyrood election. Nicola Sturgeon has described the SNP's manifesto for the Holyrood election as its most ambitious ever as she unveiled the document in Edinburgh.
The party goes into the election hoping to secure a third consecutive term in government. The party goes into the election on 5 May hoping to secure a third consecutive term in government.
Campaign director John Swinney said the SNP was "the only party with the ideas, the ambition and the leadership". The manifesto does not include a specific pledge to hold a second referendum on independence.
Leader Nicola Sturgeon said the party would build a new case for independence during the next parliament. But it pledges to increase NHS funding by £500m more than inflation over the five years.
Writing in the Herald newspaper, Ms Sturgeon said the manifesto was "a clear plan for a third term government" and asked for "a personal mandate as first minister". Ms Sturgeon described this as "part of a package of investment and reform to equip the NHS for the future".
She said there would only be another referendum "if there is clear and sustained evidence that independence has become the preferred option of a majority of the Scottish people", or if there was a "significant and material change in circumstances" such as "Scotland being taken out of the EU against our will". The 72-page manifesto also includes a commitment to "baby boxes" full of essentials to parents of all newborns, and sets an ambitious new target to cut emissions by 50% by 2020 as part of the fight against climate change.
No 'phoney battle' 'Sustained evidence'
The manifesto will be launched in Edinburgh before an audience of 1,400 guests, and will be available through a specially designed interactive app. The event will also be streamed live online. And Ms Sturgeon said that the SNP would "open the doors of opportunity to all our young people" with a re-elected SNP government focused on doubling free childcare, reforming education, improving attainment and increasing access to university and training.
Ms Sturgeon will describe the SNP package as "brimming with ideas and policies to move the country forward", adding it is "the most ambitious programme for government that we have ever published ahead of a Scottish election". Much of the focus ahead of the manifesto launch has been on what it will or will not say about the prospect of second independence referendum.
Voters in Scotland go to the polls on 5 May, with the election being the first time Ms Sturgeon has put herself forward to be the country's first minister. Ms Sturgeon has already said Holyrood should have the right to stage such a ballot "if there is clear and sustained evidence that independence has become the preferred option of a majority of the Scottish people" or if there is a "significant and material change" in circumstances.
She will say: "The decision voters will take in just 14 days' time is a simple one - who should form the next government of Scotland and who should be the next first minister. This could, for example, be Scotland being taken out of the European Union against the wishes of Scottish voters.
"That is what this election is about. It is not a phoney battle for second place or a game of chance with the electoral system - it is about choosing a government and a first minister to lead the country forward for the next five years and into a new decade. The manifesto repeats Ms Sturgeon's assertion, and says that the party will start in the summer to build a new case for independence over the five-year term of the next parliament.
"The manifesto we are publishing today is bold, ambitious and reforming. It sets out a clear plan for government and a clear path to a better future. It is, above all else, a manifesto for the next generation." And it states that: "We will achieve independence only when a majority of our fellow citizens are persuaded that it offers the best future for our country."
'Real choice' Ms Sturgeon wdescribed the SNP manifesto as "brimming with ideas and policies to move the country forward".
On NHS spending, Ms Sturgeon will say that not increasing the threshold at which people start paying income tax at 40p - as Chancellor George Osborne plans to do - will allow a future SNP government to provide additional cash. And she said it was the "most ambitious programme for government that we have ever published ahead of a Scottish election".
She will also confirm that a re-elected SNP would increase investment in the NHS by £500m more than inflation over the next parliament. She added: "This election is our opportunity to focus on the kind of country Scotland can be and who can provide the leadership to make it a reality."
Mr Swinney said: "This week the election campaign will move up a gear and focus on the real choice for voters at this election - which party is capable of forming the next government and which candidate for first minister do they trust to lead the country forward. Interactive app
"The manifesto we publish this week will present a vision for Scotland that is reforming and transforming. Large queues formed outside the Edinburgh International Conference Centre ahead of the manifesto launch, which was expected to attract an audience of 1,400 guests.
"It will set out the kind of Scotland we want to see and it will provide the platform on which we will ask voters to cast both votes for the SNP as the only way of making sure that they re-elect an SNP government with Nicola Sturgeon as first minister." The event is being streamed live on the SNP's Youtube channel, and the manifesto will also be available through a specially-designed interactive app.
It will be the first time Ms Sturgeon - who succeeded Alex Salmond as SNP leader and first minister in 2014 - has led her party into a Scottish Parliament election.
She said: "The decision voters will take in just 14 days' time is this - who should form the next government of Scotland and who should be the next first minister.
"That is what this election is about. It is not a battle for second place or a game of chance with the electoral system - it is about choosing a government and a first minister that you can trust to lead the country forward for the next five years and into a new decade.
And she described the "bold, ambitious and reforming" manifesto as her job application for the role of first minister.
Ms Sturgeon said: "I am asking the Scottish people to give me a personal mandate to implement these policies and make our country even better."