Nicola Sturgeon attacked the economic plans of Labour, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats as the SNP once again targeted Kirkcaldy for campaigning.
Despite the seat held by former prime minister Gordon Brown until his retirement upon the dissolution of parliament being Labour’s safest north of the border, both the First Minister and her party’s deputy leader Stewart Hosie have made high-profile visits in recent weeks.
The SNP leader visited the offices of children’s charity Barnardo’s, highlighting it as the kind of service she wants to protect.
Ms Sturgeon said she is the only leader proposing “responsible” spending increases in contrast to the continued austerity of her opponents.
She launched an attack on the coalition parties following the publication of a Conservative manifesto which both the SNP and Labour deemed a betrayal of the Smith Commission on devolution, and a Liberal Democrat manifesto which she said follows five years of austerity and “dishonesty”.
The First Minister also slammed Chancellor George Osborne and dismissed Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls’s insistence that he would reject any SNP demand that puts Scotland’s interests over those of England.
She said: “George Osborne’s long-term economic plan is penalising the most vulnerable in our society. It has held back economic growth and it’s undermining our public services, and only the SNP offers a clear alternative to austerity in this election.
“What the Tory manifesto proves is that the Tories can’t be trusted to deliver more powers to the Scottish Parliament.”
She added: “The Liberal Democrats have been part of a government with the Conservatives for the last five years that have imposed austerity cuts on the people of Scotland.
“The SNP is the only party offering spending increases in the next parliament, responsible increases that still allow us to cut the deficit but allow us to invest in things that matter to people the length and breadth of this country.
“For most people across the country the Lib Dems represent dishonesty they broke their promise on tuition fees.”
Commenting on Mr Balls’s insistence that an unequal SNP deal would be “a betrayal of the English vote”, Ms Sturgeon said SNP MPs would “seeyyk to build alliances with others with progressive policies for a strong voice for Scotland and better decisions coming out of Westminster”.