Party leaders made a charge into Courier Country today as part of their campaigning blitz.
The Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson celebrated her party riding high in the opinion polls by mounting a buffalo in a Fife farm.
Nicola Sturgeon was in Cupar meeting teenagers voting for the first time, while Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Willie Rennie put forward a plan to tackle the GP crisis on a visit to Perthshire.
The Tories’ support in the regional list has crept above that of Labour’s, according to a Survation poll published in the Daily Record today.
That would be enough to see Ms Davidson, who was taking a tour of a buffalo farm in Auchtertool this morning, lead her party to the remarkable feat of becoming Holyrood’s official opposition.
A defiant Alex Rowley, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader and campaign manager, said recent polls, as well as the last two years generally, have been “difficult” for the party.
But the Cowdenbeath candidate, who was in Coatbridge meeting bowls players, said “we’re in the right place”, adding: “We’ve got the right policies, we’ve got the levels of ambition Scotland needs and we just need to work hard to persuade people.”
Mr Rennie set out a four-point plan for tackling the GP recruitment crisis, which includes trebling the allocation of funds for primary care, during a visit to a Blairgowrie surgery.
He added: “It is no exaggeration to suggest that services in many areas are at breaking point.”
The First Minister laid out a package of election sweeteners to try and secure the teen vote as she stopped off at Cupar Youth Cafe to meet first-time voters.
It includes restoring housing benefit to all 18 to 21-year-olds, a job grant for those under 24s who are unemployed for more than six months and free university tuition.
Ms Sturgeon said: “For the first time 16 and 17-year-olds will be entitled to vote in a national election, and young voters deserve to know they’ll be given every chance to succeed in life.”
