First minister says Scottish election result is on a knife-edge’ as she unveils ‘unashamedly optimistic’ manifesto
The Scottish National party has committed to a £2.5bn boost to frontline NHS spending, a freeze on income tax throughout the next parliament and the abolition of NHS dentistry charges, in what Nicola Sturgeon described as an “unashamedly optimistic” manifesto while warning that the outcome of next month’s Holyrood election was “on a knife-edge”.
The manifesto also states that the party intends to hold a second independence referendum “within the first half of the five-year [parliamentary] term” – before the end of 2023 – provided the Covid crisis is over by then.