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Final push as election day looms Main parties make push for votes
(about 8 hours later)
Scotland's political leaders are gearing up to make their final pitch to voters on the last day of campaigning before Thursday's election. Scotland's main parties have made a final pitch to voters before Thursday's Scottish Parliament election.
Labour's Jack McConnell will be out in Glasgow while SNP leader Alex Salmond will tour key marginals by helicopter. Labour's Jack McConnell was in Glasgow, while SNP leader Alex Salmond toured key marginal seats by helicopter.
Conservative leader Annabel Goldie is set to visit the Ocean Terminal in Leith and Nicol Stephen for the Liberal Democrats visits Dunfermline. Conservative leader Annabel Goldie dropped in on journalists on the end of a rope at an Edinburgh activity centre.
The latest opinion polls suggest the SNP's lead over Labour is slipping. Scottish Lib Dem leader Nicol Stephen visited Dunfermline in Fife, the scene of his party's famous Westminster by-election victory last year.
It is the voters themselves who will decide the future path Alex SalmondSNP Making his last pitch for votes in Glasgow, Clydebank and West Renfrewshire, first minister Mr McConnell asked voters to "come home to Labour".
Two polls, published in three newspapers, say the gap between Labour and the SNP looks to be narrowing. I said before I swung into mid-air that I was on a high and that's what I feel about the Scottish Conservatives Scottish Conservative leader Annabel Goldie
Despite the news, Mr Salmond said it was the first time his party had managed to sustain its lead at this point in a campaign. He said: "To put Scotland first, we must put education first. To put your family first, you must put Labour first."
He said: "Labour do not have a divine right to rule, it is the voters themselves who will decide the future path for Scotland tomorrow. Mr McConnell claimed the election would go "right to the wire" and every single vote would count.
"What we have seen over the last few weeks and months is that the SNP's overwhelmingly positive campaign is succeeding over Labour's unremittingly negative campaign." "As many people decide how to vote, I urge them to put their children's future and their family first by voting for education with Labour," he said.
Mr McConnell will be stressing that every vote counts on Thursday in what is shaping up to be one of Scotland's closest elections. SNP leader Alex Salmond today vowed a Nationalist government would create a healthier and wealthier Scotland.
He will be visiting as many constituencies as possible targeting undecided voters on the issues of family education. Jack McConnell asked voters to come home to Labour
The Greens made a last-minute pitch for votes, saying polls suggested they could play a "crucial" role in the next Scottish government. Speaking on his third helicopter tour of the campaign he claimed the Nationalists held the initiative over Labour on the eve of an election for the first time.
The party's Shiona Baird said: "As Scotland prepares to go to the polls, the need to tackle climate change has never been so urgent, and never before have the stakes been so high in a Scottish election." Mr Salmond said: "Voters can support the SNP tomorrow with the knowledge that we are committed to building success for Scotland, and that we will work hard in government to earn their trust before putting the issue of Scotland's constitutional future to the people in 2010."
He added: "It's time for fresh thinking and a new approach to build a more successful Scotland."
Ms Goldie swung into action at the Ocean Terminal in Leith, handing out bread and butter to members of the media - a reference to one of the main message of their campaign.
"I said before I swung into mid-air that I was on a high and that's what I feel about the Scottish Conservatives, that's what I feel about our campaign," she said.
"We went to Ocean Terminal because it the sort of place that ordinary people and ordinary families go. They're exactly the people our policies are designed to help."
Alex Salmond said the SNP would build a successful Scotland
Ms Goldie claimed her party had out forward sensible solutions to bread and butter issues which affected people's lives.
Mr Stephen challenged his political rivals to match his party's key pledges.
Throughout the Holyrood election campaign the Lib Dems have focused on their core policies - 100% renewable electricity, an hour a day of physical exercise for children and the creation of 100 new health centres.
"If you really want change, if you really want positive policies that make a difference to families and children, there is only one positive choice," said Mr Stephen.
"Only the Liberal Democrats offer all of this for a bright future for Scotland. You can only make this happen with a vote for the Scottish Liberal Democrats."