SNP is making investment in young people an 'absolute priority'

Nicola Sturgeon will pledge to make investment in young people an "absolute priority" as she meets teenagers voting for the first time in the Holyrood elections.

Published 22nd Apr 2016

Nicola Sturgeon will pledge to make investment in young people an "absolute priority" as she meets teenagers voting for the first time in the Holyrood elections.

This is the first Scottish Parliament that 16 and 17 year olds have been permitted to take part in, after the voting age in Scotland was lowered.

Ms Sturgeon will be taking her campaign to a youth cafe in Cupar, where she will say: "For the first time ever 16 and 17 year olds will be able to vote in a national election - and the SNP are making investment in young people an absolute priority."

While Ms Sturgeon will be meeting young voters, Labour deputy leader Alex Rowley will be focusing on care for senior citizens as he visits a bowling club in Coatbridge.

The party wants social care packages to be available for people within a week, so people can get out of hospital quickly and be cared for in their own home.

Care workers would also be guaranteed the Living Wage, with no use of zero hours contracts, under Scottish Labour

Mr Rowley said: "One of Labour's proudest achievements was delivering free personal care, the next step is to protect it for the long term.

"Labour established the NHS in the 1940s, now we'll make our health service fit for the 2040s. That means greater investment in social care, to take the pressure off of our hospitals.

"Labour would guarantee a social care package within a week so that more people can receive the care they need within the dignity of their own home. We can make that promise because we are being honest about how we will pay for it. No other party is being honest about the scale of the cuts to come. On social care the SNP's promises are made to be broken."

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie will focus his attention on the "crisis" Scotland's GPs are facing, as he visits a practice in Blairgowrie.

The Lib Dems say they would increase the cash for primary care, with Mr Rennie stating: "The SNP's failure on primary care has left doctors and nurses overstretched and under-resourced. It is no wonder that people are thinking twice about entering this branch of medicine. Doctors, nurses and patients can't wait any longer for the SNP to get serious over primary care.

"The Royal College has warned that Scotland is facing a GP recruitment crisis and one third of GPs are set to retire within the next decade. The situation is acute.

"We need to see more GPs being trained or recruited but training places have been left empty. That is why Liberal Democrats will increase the proportion of NHS funding allocated to primary care and treble the allocation to the Primary Care Fund."

Elsewhere on the election trail, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson will visit a buffalo farm in Fife, while Green co-convener Maggie Chapman will set out plans to allow councils to buy land cheaply to build new homes on.

Speaking ahead of a visit today to Grampian Housing Association in Aberdeen, Ms Chapman said: "Scotland has a housing crisis but with a strong group of Greens we can push Holyrood to be bold and help councils, housing associations and housing co-operatives deliver the homes we so badly need."