Blunkett points to crime record

David Blunkett joined Labour's campaign

Home Secretary David Blunkett has been highlighting Labour's record on crime on the Scottish election campaign trail.

Mr Blunkett joined Scottish party leader Jack McConnell in claiming that Labour has been effective in targeting criminals north and south of the border.

Elsewhere, the Scottish National Party outlined plans to cut hospital waiting times, the Lib Dems promised to boost Scotland's food and drink industry and the Tories said they would give GPs full control of their budgets.

Labour entered the last weekend of campaigning saying that it was enjoying the fruits of co-operation between Westminster and Holyrood on law and order.

If you were to listen to Labour, you would believe that almost no patients wait more than 12 months for treatment

John Swinney, SNP leader

Touring the Pollok area of Glasgow, Mr Blunkett said: "Criminals don't respect borders. That is why governments must work together.

"That is why we legislated at a UK level on the Proceeds of Crime Act to provide new powers to seize the assets of drug dealers.

"That's why the Scottish Drugs Enforcement Agency established by Labour in its first term here in Scotland is working very closely with our other agencies at a UK level."

In an interview on BBC Radio Scotland, Mr McConnell defended Labour's attacks on the SNP over independence in party election broadcasts.

John Swinney promised NHS action

He said: "In an election campaign you have to use stark images to raise the issues that the other parties don't want to raise.

"I have been all over Scotland in this campaign, and in 59 different constituencies I have yet to see an SNP leaflet that uses the word 'independence.'

"That's just dishonest, and I think it is important we have a proper debate in this campaign."

Later, Mr McConnell cited the case of Margaret "Big Mags" Haney, who was jailed earlier this month for heroin dealing, along with three of her family.

"If Mags Haney had been imprisoned as a parent when she was encouraging her sons and daughters when they were teenagers to sell drugs in the Raploch in Stirling, then those sons and daughters would not have sold so many drugs," he told BBC Scotland's Your Election programme.

SNP leader John Swinney accused Labour of misleading Scots over hospital waiting times and pledged that an SNP administration would guarantee treatment within six months for all patients.

Food and industry

Mr Swinney said: "If you were to listen to Labour, you would believe that almost no patients wait more than 12 months for treatment.

"In fact, figures I can reveal today show that they are deliberately misleading the public.

"The number has more than tripled since 1999 to a massive 2,545.

"This is the reality of waiting under Labour."

The Scottish Liberal Democrats outlined plans to boost the country's food and drink industry.

The party's Ross Finnie said that promoting high quality Scottish produce could create 1,000 jobs a year.

He claimed one way to revitalise the industry would be to force schools and hospitals to use competitively priced Scottish produce by writing it into their contracts.

David McLetchie: Pledge to GPs

Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy was on the campaign trail in Aberdeen.

The Scottish Tories pledged to give GPs full control of their budgets in a bid to drive up standards in the health service.

Party leader David McLetchie said the move would allow doctors to buy the best possible healthcare for their patients, either from the NHS or the private sector.

Speaking during a visit to a GP's surgery in Airdrie, Mr McLetchie said the health service was over-centralised and that frontline doctors were best placed to assess patients' needs.

Mr McLetchie also accused Labour of "ideological vandalism" for scrapping so-called GP fundholding after their General Election win in 1997.

UK Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, accompanied by wife Betsy, was meeting candidates and voters in Stirling, Perth, Aberdeen and Elgin.

The Scottish Green Party called for a target to be introduced to cut greenhouse gases

Leader Robin Harper criticised the other parties for failing to address the issue, saying "climate change will mean chaotic weather, increased frequency and severity of storms and flooding".