SCOTTISH Labour leader Kezia Dugdale will today pledge to establish a £6million "fair start fund" to support children from less well off families.
Under the plan, nurseries will receive an extra £300 for every child from the poorest backgrounds on its roll.
The funds will be spent by the nursery head teacher and 20,000 three- and four-year-olds will benefit.
Scottish Labour plans to fund the scheme by using Holyrood's new powers to restore the 50p top rate of income tax for people earning over £150,000.
Ms Dugdale will give details of the scheme, which will feature in her party's manifesto for next May's Holyrood elections, during a visit to a nursery in Loanhead, Midlothian.
Speaking ahead of the visit, she said: "A Scottish Labour government would ask the richest few to pay a little bit more in tax so we can create a Fair Start Fund to invest in the future.
"We need to create a Scotland where a young person's ability to get on in life is determined by their potential, work ethic and ambition - not by how much money their parents have."
She said Holyrood's new powers, including control over income tax and a £2.5billion welfare programme, was ushering in "a period of huge transformation in Scottish politics"
She added: "All the evidence makes clear that the gap between the richest and the rest exists even with children at nursery. Three and four-year-olds from poorer backgrounds are already having to play catch-up. How much money a toddler's parents have shouldn't decide whether they get a fair shot at life.
"A Scottish Labour government would ask the richest few to pay a little bit more in tax so we can create a fair start fund to invest in the future."
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