Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

VIDEO: Nicola Sturgeon backs The Courier’s first aid campaign during visit to Dundee

The Courier’s campaign to create an army of lifesaver has reached new heights as Nicola Sturgeon has announced her support for the campaign.

The First Minister said she “supports the principle” of the campaign of introducing regular first aid lessons for ages in schools.

The Scottish Government have been under pressure to implement the campaign as politicians from across the political divide have now lent their support to The Courier’s campaign.

Scottish Conservative leader Jackson Carlaw, Scottish Labour boss Richard Leonard, Green co-convener Patrick Harvey and Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie all offered their support for the campaign.

Dozens of parliamentarians also backed the campaign at the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday.

Despite the First Minister’s support, there is still more work to do as the government are yet to implement first aid training across the education spectrum in Scotland, as thousands of youngsters are not being taught the lifesaving skills.

School pupils in England will learn the lifesaving techniques from September as part of an initiative to boost cardiac arrest survival rates, as statistics estimate chances of survival could triple if implemented.

Under the plans, all schools children in Scotland would be equipped with the necessary skills to save a life.

Speaking in Dundee at the opening of the city’s new £32 million Regional Performance Centre yesterday, Ms Sturgeon said: “I am very happy to support the principle of The Courier’s First Aid Kids campaign.

“We don’t have a mandatory curriculum in Scotland but it’s really important that we encourage schools to make young people aware of the importance of first aid and equip people with the skills they need so I commend The Courier’s for this campaign and wish it every success.”

Over the week, the campaign has shared the harrowing tales of families who know only too well the difference first aid knowledge can make.

Four-year-old Cameron Gilmour, who has cerebral palsy and is non-verbal, would not be here today if it wasn’t for heroic first-aider Sam Hampton who rushed to his rescue after a tonsil infection blocked his airways.

Following Ms Sturgeon’s declaration, a local SNP MP has joined the swathe of politicians calling for first aid to be taught as part of the school curriculum in Scotland.

Pete Wishart, MP for Perth and North Perthshire said: “I’m delighted to back The Courier’s First Aid Kids campaign and I am really pleased that it is receiving widespread attention across the political spectrum.

“Politicians may disagree on somethings, but I think we can all agree that teaching pupil’s lifesaving skills is a very worthwhile cause.

“You just never know when first aid skills will be needed and having this taught at schools could quite literally be a life saver.”


Our petition

An error has occurred while loading your details. Please click the following link to try again - if the issue persists, please don't hesitate to contact us. Try again by refreshing the page.

Click here for more on The Courier’s First Aid Kids campaign