NICOLA Sturgeon has warned there are just 10 days left to save Scotland from “cruel” Tory austerity.

Sturgeon issued a rallying cry to Scots to “put a check” on Theresa May’s

party on June 8 ahead of the SNP election manifesto launch this week.

Plans “to minimise the numbers of people who feel left behind” will be at the heart of the SNP’s prospectus, Sturgeon says. Sturgeon has also unveiled her alternative economic plan for the UK as a whole. One of the cornerstones of the SNP manifesto, to be launched on Tuesday, will be an additional £118 billion for UK-wide public spending to end Tory austerity.

She says the SNP’s plans would deliver sound public finances, return borrowing to levels prior to those of the 2008 financial collapse, and slash the national debt. Sturgeon stated that the plan represents a “responsible and credible” alternative to aggressive Tory cuts. She also described the Tories as “more weak and wobbly than strong and stable”.

Writing exclusively in today’s Sunday Herald, Sturgeon said a “combination of Tory cuts and an extreme Brexit are set to make the UK permanently poorer”. Sturgeon’s attack on the Tories comes amid an apparent dampening of public support for Theresa May’s party after early indications of a landslide against Labour at Westminster.

The First Minister warned that a re-elected Tory government posed a threat to public services, jobs and prosperity in Scotland, and insisted that austerity was a deliberate choice made by the Tories, as she stated: “There is another way.”

Sturgeon also hit out at the “repulsive rape clause” introduced by May’s government as well as plans to cut the winter fuel allowance and axe pension protection. She said the Tories had already been “exposed for the cruelty of some of their policies” by the time campaigning was suspended following the terror attack in Manchester that claimed 22 lives.

Sturgeon writes: "Tomorrow there will be 10 days to polling day. Ten days in which it is vital to shine a bright light on the impact Tory policies will have on the country, on households and on jobs...Ten days in which people across Scotland can say enough is enough and vote SNP to stop the Tories and give Scotland a strong voice at Westminster."

Sturgeon adds: “When all parties suspended election campaigning last week the Tories had been exposed for the cruelty of some of their policies, the financial incompetence of their plans and the repeated U-turns that make them look more weak and wobbly than strong and stable.”

Sturgeon also spoke candidly about her reaction to the atrocity in Manchester which saw the SNP postpone the launch of its election manifesto for a week.

She said: “On Monday night I prepared to head to bed having just put the finishing touches to my speech for Tuesday’s planned launch of the SNP manifesto ... A few hours later – for so many people – the world looked a very different place.

“It is simply not possible, for those of us who haven’t been through it, to really understand the pain and suffering of the families of those who lost their lives in Manchester this week, or those who remain in hospital as doctors and nurses work 24/7 to help them pull through.

“That community spirit of the people of Manchester and the dedication of people who spend their working lives running towards emergencies, not running away, must be the abiding memories of this week’s tragic events.”

Sturgeon will use the SNP’s manifesto launch to set out plans for an additional £118bn for UK public spending during the course of the next Westminster parliament.

She will say the package is aimed at freeing up cash for public services, protecting household incomes and delivering a fair social security system.

Sturgeon will state that the plan would balance the UK’s budget by the end of the parliament in 2021-22, as well as stabilising net borrowing at pre-crash levels.

In a separate intervention ahead of the manifesto launch, she said: “The SNP manifesto will set out a clear alternative to continued Tory austerity – and the unnecessary, ideological, and self-defeating cuts that have held back the economy, damaged public services, and hammered millions by squeezing family budgets.

“The SNP will put forward a responsible and credible fiscal plan that will free up an additional £118bn of public investment to grow the economy, safeguard our public services, protect household incomes and put the UK’s finances back on a stable footing.”

However, Scottish Tory shadow finance secretary Murdo Fraser, hitting back, said: “It’s all very well saying they would raise billions, but they don’t seem to know how.”