Ed Miliband has said a Labour victory in the General Election is "within grasp" as he issued a rallying call to voters in Scotland and across the UK.
The Labour leader was in Ayr to address the annual congress of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) and conspicuously made no mention of the SNP on the day Nicola Sturgeon launched her party's manifesto in Edinburgh.
Mr Miliband instead chose to focus on his party's message to "working people" and accused David Cameron of "double deceit" on the NHS.
He said: "Change hasn't happened because leaders made it happen, it's because you in this room and the people who went before you made it happen.
"So, today, I call on you, I call on you to put an end to this government, I call on you, on the people of Scotland and, yes, on behalf of the people of Wales and England and the whole of the United Kingdom, to fight as you have always done for working people.
"I call on you to work with me to end the old ways of running the country because it is within our grasp.
"Together we can write a new chapter, for Scotland and the United Kingdom. This is the chance we have in just 17 days. Today, I call on you and then in 17 days, for five years, you can call on me to fight for the working people of this country.
"Let's make it happen, let's change our country to work for working people of Scotland and the whole of the United Kingdom."
Mr Miliband said he would take inspiration from the Labour movement over the last 17 days of the campaign as he appealed to Scottish voters to return to the party.
He said: "The battle to build a country that works for working people is the story of our movement.
"And here in Scotland you have always answered the call.
"When people asked a hundred years who would fight for workers' rights, it was Scottish trade unionists who said, call on me.
"When people asked after the war, who will ensure education reaches all working people, it was Jennie Lee who inspired the change and said call on me.
"When people asked a generation ago, who will make a minimum wage central to Labour's programme, it was John Smith who said call on me.
"And then, when the people of Scotland asked who will fight for and lead a Scottish Parliament, it was Donald Dewar who said call on me.
"But what the history of our movement teaches us is that it is leaders who can be the catalyst for change, but it is only with movements that change can happen."
Mr Miliband attacked Conservative tax policies as "unfair, regressive and reprehensible", highlighting Labour plans for a 50p top rate of income tax, a tax on bankers' bonuses, a mansion tax and a crackdown on tax avoidance.
He accused David Cameron of "double deceit" over Conservative plans for the NHS, saying: "They are not being straight about their extreme plans to double the cuts to public services next year."
Angus Robertson, the SNP's campaign director, said: "Ed Miliband knows that Labour are not strong enough to win a majority at the general election - the question is whether he is prepared to work with the SNP to lock David Cameron out of Downing Street, or if he would prefer to let the Tories back in.
"The only way to stop austerity and halt the waste of £100 billion being spent on Trident nuclear weapons - and instead invest in jobs, the NHS, a stronger Scotland and progressive change across the UK is by voting SNP on May 7."
Meanwhile, Labour has confirmed the revenue stream for its promised £2.5 billion investment in the NHS will be in place in the first full financial year of the next parliament.
The party also said the process would begin this financial year even though it has already started.
Speaking at the launch of a week of intensive campaigning on the NHS, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls said he would get to work immediately after the election.
He added: "Our first budget will put the revenue streams in place.
"It is our intention to have the full revenue stream up and running in the first financial year, the first full financial year."
A Labour source clarified part of the revenue stream for the £2.5 billion would be in place within 2015/16.
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