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Kezia Dugdale pledges to stand up for Scottish islands

Kezia Dugdale
Kezia Dugdale

The leader of the Scottish Labour Party has claimed the SNP has “cut vital services” to the islands.

Speaking on a visit to Stornoway, Ms Dugdale said her party’s manifesto, which will be unveiled next week, would “represent people in every corner of this country”.

Parties have stepped up their campaigns in recent days, with just under two weeks left in the race for Holyrood.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie used a visit to the Borders to accuse the SNP of not doing enough to tackle mental health issues, while Scottish Conservatives’ leader Ruth Davidson called for the SNP to end “one size fits all education” during a trip to an Edinburgh nursery.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited Dumfrieshire to highlight her party’s plans to improve education.

Ms Dugdale said: “The SNP’s cuts have meant the loss of vital local services on our islands, cuts to our schools and a fall in standards in the NHS. That is why next week we will launch a manifesto that will speak to all of Scotland.

“We have bold and ambitious plans that will change the lives of people who live in our island communities – whether that’s investing to build thousands of new homes or extending the coverage of superfast broadband across the country.”

On his visit to the Borders, Mr Rennie said the SNP was “complacent” about mental health, criticising the Nationalists’ manifesto commitments on the issue.

He said: “Last year the SNP announced £150million in funding for mental health with great fanfare but we are now in the middle of 2016 and we still have no idea how half of it is going to be spent. Almost £70million remains unallocated.

“Meanwhile, children in Aberdeenshire and the Highlands are being forced to travel hundreds of miles to Dundee for treatment because we don’t have specialist treatment centres in the north.

“This is just not good enough.”

Ms Sturgeon used her campaign stop to highlight her manifesto pledges on education.

She said: “A re-elected SNP government will ensure that more resources go directly to head teachers, enabling them to lead transformation in their schools and supporting groups of schools to work more closely together, sharing resources, specialisms and experiences to support all of our children.”

Ms Davidson said Ms Sturgeon’s comments showed she “now agrees” with the Tories.

She added: “We have been calling for head teachers to get more control and for school management to be devolved – and it is good to see the SNP now moving on that too.”