NICOLA Sturgeon has admitted the SNP’s decade in power has not been perfect, but insisted her party still leads the UK with “progressive policies” that are frequently stolen by others.
Standing in front of the overdue Queensferry Crossing on the day NHS Grampian said it could no longer guarantee patients timely surgery, the First Minister said the SNP had worked “every day to make Scotland a better country” and made “real progress to be proud of”.
She said the 10th anniversary of her predecessor Alex Salmond becoming First Minister in 2007 was a “special day” for her party.
Her opponents said the SNP had squandered its time in office by pursuing independence.
However campaigning alongside General Election candidates from Edinburgh and the Lothians in South Queensferry, Ms Sturgeon said: "The SNP has only reached the milestone of 10 years in government because we have worked hard - each and every day - to repay the trust of the people of Scotland and deliver on their priorities. I know we are not perfect.
We haven't got everything right and there is much more work still to do.
“Work to grow our economy, get more people into employment and drive up standards in our schools even further. But we can be proud in Scotland that when it comes to progressive policies, we are leading the UK.”
She said the new Labour manifesto “directly lifts” SNP policies, including free university tuition, ending hospital parking charges, and abolishing the so-called Bedroom Tax.
The Tories, who in an echo of the SNP’s 2007 manifesto, yesterday promised to scrap road tolls across the Severn, had also “belatedly” backed more council house building and free prescriptions, she said.
"They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But in this case the imitation shown by both Labour and the Tories is anything but sincere. The fact is that they have had the chance to back the SNP's progressive policies - but instead they opposed them tooth and nail."
She said a future Tory government with a bigger majority would impose more cuts, attack the vulnerable, and pursue a job-killing hard Brexit, making it “more important than ever that we have strong voices at Westminster standing up for Scotland".
She added: "Scotland has come a long way over the last 10 years - but the next few years will be hugely important in determining the kind of country we become.
"In the face of an uncertain world and an increasingly right-wing Tory Government, now more than ever it is vital to have the SNP standing up for Scotland."
Asked about the eight-month delay to the £1.35bn Queensferry Crossing, which is due to open around August, she said: “This is a bridge that’s going to last for 100 years. High winds have meant that it might be delayed by a few weeks but it’s a fantastic achievement."
Earlier, Health Secretary Shona Robison apologised to patients affected by NHS Grampian being unable to meet the 12-week diagnosis-to-surgery guarantee because of staff shortages.
She said it was "not ideal" that some people would now have to wait longer for treatment as adult elective patients were prioritised according to clinical need.
Campaigning in Dumfries, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said the SNP could have achieved far more “if they hadn't spent so much time trying to rip Scotland out of the UK”.
She said: "We've got schools going backwards, we've got college places that have been cut.
“We've got an economy that's one quarter from recession, whilst the rest of the UK is growing.
"There will be people in Scotland thinking it [an SNP decade] is a real missed opportunity."
Visiting a nursery in Gordon to warn of slow progress on the SNP promise to double free childcare by 2020, Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie said people were ”getting tired of the SNP and all their promises” after 10 years.
He said: “They have let education drift down the international rankings. Literacy has tumbled. “
“The economy is on the edge of recession. We can’t afford more tired neglect from the SNP.”
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale will today urge voters to reject the “extremes of nationalism offered by the Tories and the SNP”.
In a speech in Glasgow, she will say the two parties have “hijacked” the results of the independence and EU referendums for their own “narrow nationalist purposes”.
She will say: “As a Labour Party, we put ourselves on the side of the vast majority of people across our country who rejected a hard Brexit and rejected independence.
"There is a clear majority in this country in favour of that vision of our society. They are the majority for change. A majority who aren't served by either the Tories or the SNP.
"They are the people who are sick of the Tories' lack of compassion, and the SNP's obsession with another referendum.
"And who just want us to be getting on with the job of governing and changing people's lives.”
Responding, SNP deputy leader Angus Robertson said: "No amount of headline-chasing policy announcements can paper over the enormous cracks within the weak and divided Labour Party.
"Labour are not going to form the next government so this election is about who can best protect Scotland's schools, hospitals and pensions from unnecessary Tory cuts and an extreme Brexit deal which will put Scottish jobs at risk."
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