SNP vows to revitalise councils

SNP vows to revitalise councils

Mr Swinney pledged to revitalise councils

The Scottish National Party has launched its local government manifesto with a pledge to revitalise "stagnant" councils.

The manifesto includes a pledge to introduce proportional representation (PR) in council elections.

Party leader John Swinney, during the launch at Dundee's Discovery Point, said PR was the only way to end one-party dominance.

Mr Swinney said: "Local government should be about putting local people in control of their own communities.

National tests

"However, too many councils are stagnant, rather than vibrant.

"The current first-past the-post electoral system has returned huge majorities that simply do not reflect the views of the communities which they represent."

The Liberal Democrats have been focusing on their plan to scrap national testing for five to 15-year-olds, in a move they claim would save one million hours of teaching time in Scotland.

Mr Wallace said: "These national tests deprive children of valuable learning time, break the flow of classroom teaching, create additional work for teachers, confuse parents and drain valuable resources in schools. And, in the end, the tests simply confirm what teachers already know."

Michael Ancram lent his support to the Tory campaign

Scots Tory leader David McLetchie has called on Labour and the SNP to end what he described as their "phoney war" over health in the run up to election day.

Mr McLetchie claimed only the Conservatives were offering the "fresh ideas" needed to consign hospital waiting lists and waiting times "to the history books" - as had already been done in some other parts of Europe.

Accusing opponents of negative, personality-based campaigns, he said Labour and the SNP must explain why, despite an extra £1.5bn to £2bn more expenditure on the NHS in the last five years, health service delivery in Scotland had shown no improvement.

He said: "They both believe in a centralised health service, in pouring in money from the top, and in denying the lessons of the experience of the last few years - which is that more and more money going into a system doesn't necessarily produce better results unless you have fundamental reforms in terms of how the system works."

Public participation

And on Tuesday, Tory shadow foreign secretary Michael Ancram was lending his support to the Scottish Tories, by campaigning in Stonehaven, Montrose and Edinburgh.

The Scottish People's Alliance (SPA) was highlighting its proposal to sell off the Holyrood building.

The new party is standing in 16 constituencies throughout Scotland on a platform of tax cuts and public participation.

The Greens paraded four grey men on Calton Hill in Edinburgh saying they represented the four main parties and their policies on the environment.

Leader Robin Harper said the main parties had failed to tackle seriously the issues of climate change, pollution and waste.