With less than two weeks of campaigning left until polling day, the five main parties will be working harder than ever to get their messages across and win our votes on 5 May. Politicians say a lot at election time, and it can be difficult to take it all in.
To help you make sense of the issues of the day, we've taken all of the press releases sent to us yesterday by the SNP and the Scottish Labour, Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Green parties and created a word cloud of the most commonly mentioned words across all of the releases.
Yesterday's CalMerc Cloud consisted of one press release each from Labour, Greens and the Liberal Democrats, two from the Conservatives and seven from the SNP.
Once we removed the words Scottish, Scotland's, Scotland, Supports and Support, the image below is what we had. The bigger the word, the more it was used in those releases.
With more press releases yesterday that all the others combined, this cloud is clearly more weighted with SNP issues, and it's no surprise that "SNP" is the dominant word in the cloud.
"Carers" is the next biggest, as the SNP launched a mini-manifesto for Scotland's carers setting out the party's commitments to the 600,000 carers across the country.
Nicola Sturgeon, deputy first minister and health minister said:
"The SNP is putting Scotland first and that includes Scotland's carers.
"Scotland's carers provide vital support, and we owe it to them to recognise and support the wonderful work they do. We want to get the laws and the guidance right and to make sure they have the help and the backing they need through good times and bad. The SNP will invest an extra £14 million in support for Scotland's carers and we will work to improve the quality of life for carers young and old."
The next most popular is "veterans", again directly related to the SNP as they set out key commitments to Scotland's veterans during a visit by first minister Alex Salmond to the Erskine Home and the Erskine Garden Centre in Bishopton.
The SNP leader vowed he would build on a strong record of support for veterans under the SNP government, with a commitment to retain concessionary travel for injured veterans, continue priority treatment for veterans within the NHS and to introduce further and higher education scholarships for the children of servicemen and women killed while on active duty.
Mr Salmond said:
"The SNP is committed to doing all that we can, in partnership with organisations like Erskine and the armed forces community, to meet the needs of all of our servicemen and women, both past and present. In this election we are working for jobs, for opportunities and for fairness. Our support for Scotland's veterans extending concessionary bus travel to injured veterans, opening up access to health treatment and housing and supporting organisations that help veterans adjust to civilian work is a key part of that.
"And we will support the families of our service personnel offering help to the children of those killed in active service to ensure they have the same opportunities at further and higher education as anyone else."
Labour's contribution to the cloud came in the form of their pledge to first-time buyers. Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray today met with first-time buyers and pledged to help them realise their dream of owning their own home by introducing a new "First Foot" scheme if he is elected as first minister.
Labour's new mortgage indemnity guarantee scheme will reduce the size of deposits on new properties to only 5 or 10 per cent and underwrite the bank’s risk in lending to an individual with a lower deposit.
The scheme has been backed by senior figures across the construction industry.
Scottish Labour Leader, Iain Gray, said:
"First-time buyers are struggling to find deposits to get their foot on the housing ladder with some banks asking for up to 25 per cent. The industry needs a steady flow of first-time buyers to boost sales further up the chain.
"That is why I will introduce a First Foot scheme to help 2,000 first-time buyers realise their dream of owning their own home. It will make deposits more affordable and the building trade will benefit if we see more sales as a result of the scheme."
Want to discuss other issues? Join in the debate on our new Scottish Voices forum
The Scottish Conservatives added the small "Tunnock's" on the left and "economy" on the right, getting back to basics and launching their Common Sense on the Economy manifesto at the famous teacake-producing factory in Uddingston. Speaking as she launched the manifesto from the Tunnock’s factory, Annabel Goldie, Scottish Conservative leader, said: “I am delighted to be launching this manifesto from one of Scotland’s great success stories. Tunnock’s is an example of what can be achieved through sheer hard work and dedication. “We need more Tunnock’s in Scotland and where we can help is by creating a framework to let our economy flourish. That means helping businesses grow, to provide more opportunity and wealth for all. Scottish Conservatives have already taken action in the last parliament. We forced the SNP government to accelerate business rate cuts for our smallest businesses – a move FSB Scotland [the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland] estimates saved one in eight of these small businesses from going under. “In the most recent budget, we secured a £26m boost to business - £16m for construction and £10m for business start ups and exporting. These measures will create over 10,000 jobs in Scotland. “That is real help in these tough times. But we can do more. I want an entrepreneurial, dynamic, thriving Scotland. A Scotland that backs small business, providing a framework for them to succeed and prosper. This manifesto is full of ideas to get us started. It is common sense for us to grow Scotland's economy and that is exactly what we will do.” The Lib Dems only seemed to have one event yesterday – not significantly impacting our word cloud – as MP for North East Fife Menzies Campbell joined local candidate Euan Robson on a tour of Oregon Timber Frame Ltd in Selkirk. Liberal Democrats want businesses like this to benefit from Regional Development Banks, and the party also claims to have identified £250 million to spend on insulating homes and making them more energy efficient, cutting home energy bills and creating jobs. Finally, "Fund", "communities" and "climate" appear courtesy of the Scottish Greens as they unveiled proposals for a major boost to the Climate Challenge Fund, taking the overall value of the fund up to £125m over the next Holyrood session. The party's plans will build on the success of the existing £37m fund, which Greens secured through budget negotiations with the Scottish government, and which supported hundreds of community-led carbon reduction projects across Scotland in the last parliament. Patrick Harvie said: "The Climate Challenge Fund has allowed imaginative, vital community-led solutions to flourish across Scotland. From innovative renewable energy schemes in urban areas, to transition town initiatives in some of Scotland's more remote areas, the fund is helping people to tackle the climate challenge while also bringing big economic and quality of life dividends across Scotland. "Scottish Greens now want to make good on the roots that the Fund has laid down by putting in £125m over the next session to back projects on all levels, from small ideas that just need a little push to get started through to major new community projects that need substantial investment."Related posts: