The Glenrothes by-election entered its final 72 hours of campaigning yesterday, with the SNP expressing renewed confidence it would win while Labour concentrated on the specific issue of bus services.

The Glenrothes by-election entered its final 72 hours of campaigning yesterday, with the SNP expressing renewed confidence it would win while Labour concentrated on the specific issue of bus services.

Cathcart MSP Charles Gordon travelled to the bus station in the town to launch the consultation document for his proposed bill to reintroduce an element of regulation back into the industry.

"This bill is a response to the situation on the ground because across the country the state of services is very uneven - some good in urban areas, some poor in towns after six in the evening and some in rural areas where there is a real problem," he said.

"I am proposing to give local authorities power to intervene where there has been market failure. We are hopeful of backing from the government on this but the SNP position so far has been ambiguous."

Labour sees Mr Gordon's Bill as part of a new constructive approach to opposition at Holyrood, similar to proposals for apprenticeships pushed by Fife MSP John Park. Both were there in support of by-election candidate Lindsay Roy yesterday.

SNP candidate Peter Grant stepped up his party's campaign on the threat to post offices posed by the looming loss of the Post Office Card Account, which it claims is being delayed until after Thursday's by-election.

The SNP believes it has put in the work on the ground to win the by-election, prompted by the death of Labour's John MacDougall, who had a majority of more than 10,600 at the last General Election.

Deputy SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday: "I think the SNP will win because the people of Glenrothes on Thursday have an opportunity to force positive change on the things that matter to them, whether it's sky-high energy bills or jobs.

"We are increasingly confident as we approach the last few days. I don't see or hear any evidence of a Brown bounce. Instead there has been mounting anger over the way he has bailed out the banks but done nothing to help ordinary people with day-to-day issues."

Labour MP Anne McGuire said her party had fought a "fantastic" campaign and voters had been impressed by the Prime Minister's handling of the global economic crisis.

"People who were perhaps hedging their bets in terms of their opinion of Gordon have actually come out and said he's the man for the job," she told the BBC. "There's a security he's giving people, a confidence that he's giving people, and that is enhanced by an excellent local candidate in Lindsay Roy. It's all to play for and certainly in a by-election we don't take anything for granted."

The Tories focused on the need for improvements to the A92 road north of Glenrothes as it leaves the constituency, with candidate Maurice Golden and local MSP Ted Brocklebank claiming that everyone knew in that part of Fife that road improvements had only ever come in Labour areas.

Shadow Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: "This by-election is becoming renowned for the political cowardice of Labour and the SNP - Labour set to destroy more communities and close 700 more post offices in Scotland, the SNP refusing to upgrade the A92 and make safe this dangerous road."

The Liberal Democrats will also go on the post office issue today when three of the party's big hitters - Scottish leader Tavish Scott, North-east Fife MP Sir Menzies Campbell and Treasury spokesman Vince Cable - campaign in support of candidate Harry Wills.