The biggest news from the Labour camp yesterday was their manifesto launch. The manifesto was released online, as a book, and on the party's “iPledgecards”.
The iPledgecard is a wallet-sized USB data card, with a message from Iain Gray and Labour’s top five pledges printed on the outside of the card, with a full manifesto encoded onto the card. Over the coming days, a shorter magazine version of the manifesto will be sent to over 100,000 homes across Scotland.
Speaking ahead of the manifesto launch, the Scottish Labour leader, Iain Gray, outlined his plan for education in Scotland:
"I was the first person in my family to go to university and I refuse to impose additional barriers on Scotland’s next generation. Education is the single most important lever in transforming people’s lives.
"From our youngest children learning to read, to research scientists on the cutting edge of new discoveries, education drives Scotland’s ability to create wealth and opportunity. Our young people are our future and if we are to come out of the recession fighting then we need our young people with the knowledge and skills Scotland’s economy requires.
"I have already made clear that if I am First Minister there will be no tuition fees for Scottish students - I will not put a price tag on education.
"The Tories have exposed their true colours at Westminster and in Scotland with their plans to hammer Scotland’s students to the tune of £16,000. They have pulled the ladders of opportunity from thousands of young people and I refuse to let that happen here.
"But I want to go further, so am pleased to be the first main party leader to back these important calls from Scotland's students. We need to get support for students better.
"I have already promised to reform the broken college bursary system, but I will now go further and set in place plans to reform university support too. I will therefore ask a student to chair an urgent review to ensure that those going on to college and university get the help they need at the time they need it.
"Access to education must always be based on ability to learn, not ability to pay."
President of NUS Scotland, Liam Burns, said:
"We are delighted that Scottish Labour has signed up to our Reclaim Your Voice campaign. Scottish parties are showing that they are willing to prioritise education at this time, choosing a different path to what we’ve seen in the rest of the UK.
"Ahead of May's elections we will be calling on every candidate in every party to commit to rule out tuition fees, protect graduate numbers and college places and improve student support."
Coinciding with their manifesto launch was the first party political broadcast from Scottish Labour, in which Iain Gray talks about how family is the motivating force behind his politics. In the film, Mr Gray says:
"Sure, I am a politician, but I am also a father, a husband, a grandfather, a son. That’s what fires me up. That’s why I want to change Scotland. That’s why I want to make Scotland better. These things really matter to me. It’s my niece Lindsey training to be a nurse for our NHS. It my nephew Graham going to university to study engineering. It’s my granddaughter Lucy. What is her future going to hold? Will she have a decent school?
"Will she get a chance of university or college or an apprenticeship? Will she grow up expecting the opportunity for a job, a decent wage, to be treated fairly at work? Will her streets be safe? Will the air she breathes, the water she drinks and food she eats be clean and safe and unpolluted? Will she have the electricity and the warmth and the comfort she needs?
"I don’t want Lucy to grow up in a difficult and divided society. I don’t want her or her family to live in fear in her home or on their streets. If she is ill I don’t want her to suffer an NHS which is underfunded or broken up.
“What about you? What do you want for your family? Your parents? Your children? Your partner? Your nephews? Your nieces?
“I am a proud Scot. I love Scotland and I am proud of my family too. What the Tories are doing offends me – breaking up the NHS, freezing Child Benefit, cutting Tax Credits, slashing the Winter Fuel Allowance."
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