NURSERY children across Scotland will receive free school meals for the first time if the SNP is re-elected in May, it has emerged.

Nicola Sturgeon will today pledge to save parents hundreds of pounds each year by opening up free lunches to children aged two to four.

And she will vow not to follow moves being considered by George Osborne to raise the threshold at which people start paying 40p tax.

But the First Minister is also expected to say a future SNP Government will not increase the 20p tax rate for at least five years, leading to calls from opposition parties for her to be clearer about how she would pay for children's free meals.

In a speech to her party’s conference in Glasgow today, Ms Sturgeon is also expected to reiterate her promise to double the amount of free childcare and early years education by the end of the next parliament.

Free school meals are currently available for all children in primary 1 to 3.

The SNP says the scheme has benefitted 135,000 children and saved families around £380 a year per child.

But earlier this month the Conservatives questioned whether families were being forced to pay by the back door after figures showed some councils have raised charges for school lunches for older children by up to a third in just over a year.

Ms Sturgeon will tell SNP activists that if elected her government will extend entitlement to free meals to nurseries

She will say: “Making sure that our youngest children get access to a healthy nutritious meal that improves their capacity to learn - without the stigma of means testing.”

The SNP leader has said she will wait until after George Osborne’s Budget next week before setting out detailed tax plans.

But she is expected to tell the SNP conference that she is acutely aware that every decision on spending has to be paid for by "hard-working" Scots.

And she will pledge not to raise the basic tax rate before 2021.

Ms Sturgeon will say: "We are determined to make this country fairer - but to do that, we also need Scotland to be an attractive place to live, work and do business"

“I don’t think there’s anything left-wing about a competition over who can tax ordinary people the most.

“Taxing the lowest paid doesn’t tackle austerity - it simply passes the burden of Tory austerity to the shoulders of those who can least afford it and that is not fair.”

But, she will add it would be “deeply wrong” to give large tax cuts to the better paid.

“Our choice will be to invest more in our public services instead.” she will say.

Labour challenged Ms Sturgeon to set out more details on her plans.

The party’s Labour’s Iain Gray said: “Labour welcomes the expansion of free school meals but our schools and nurseries need the capacity to deliver them.”

He also accused the SNP leader of forcing through cuts worth hundreds of millions of pounds to schools and local services and failing to fulfill existing childcare promises.

Both Scottish Labour and the Liberal Democrats have said that they would increase tax rates by 1p in the pound to pay for education.

Scottish Labour also challenged the Ms Sturgeon to “come clean” on fracking.

SNP activists are due take part in a major anti-fracking demonstration at their own conference today.

Scottish ministers have refused to rule out allowing fracking after a current moratorium ends, while Scottish Labour have said they would ban the controversial controversial gas extraction technique.

A Scottish Conservatives also called for more clarity on the First Minister’s tax plans.

A spokesman said: “When it comes to the use of new taxes in Scotland, we need a fair deal both for our public services and for taxpayers.

“Our pledge at this election is simply that people here should not have to pay higher taxes than those elsewhere in the UK.”