Senior party figures join Scottish Labour fight

Deputy leader Harriet Harman will make an appearance in Scotland. Picture: PA

LABOUR is breaking out its big guns on the Scottish front in the battle for Downing Street, with appearances from several senior figures.

Deputy leader Harriet Harman will meet voters in Glasgow with shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran, while former prime minister Gordon Brown will be in neighbouring Elderslie with shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander.

Ms Harman will launch a consultation on allowing working grandparents to share parents’ unpaid parental leave, allowing a grandparent to take time off work to help look after a grandchild without fear of losing their job.

Speaking ahead of the visit, she said: “There have been many ways in which family life has changed, but public policy remains rooted in the past.

“Labour has a better plan for working families. The sharing of parental leave with grandparents would give families in Scotland more flexibility by recognising the important role that grandparents play.”

Mr Brown will urge “patriotic Scots” to reject full fiscal autonomy and back Labour’s plan for full employment in Scotland.

“Full employment should be a priority objective and not just an afterthought,” he said ahead of his visit to Elderslie.

“And when the issue is who will deliver change in a UK Government that benefits the Scottish people, I tell you from my experience as Prime Minister that a Scot such as Douglas Alexander would have more power to affect positive change during a 50-minute Cabinet meeting than any SNP MP could achieve in five years of protest outside of government.”

Elsewhere, SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon will join female activists in Glasgow to launch the SNP’s women’s pledge, committing the SNP to further action to promote gender equality.

Ms Sturgeon said: “No young girl should grow up in 2015 with the prospect of facing a glass ceiling that limits their ambitions. We all owe it to future generations to end gender inequality once and for all - which is why I am launching the SNP’s women’s pledge today.

“Westminster’s austerity cuts have hit women the hardest of all, with 85% of cuts to social security and pensions affecting the incomes of women.

“SNP MPs at Westminster will stand up for gender equality at every turn. We will work for an end to austerity, for equal pay, more and better jobs and to end the barriers that still block the aspirations of too many women in Scotland and across the UK.”

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson will visit a falconry in Fife, and then join activists at a street stall.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP will tomorrow set out his party’s plans to introduce five green laws to put the environment at the heart of government policy.

He will cycle into Edinburgh from his home in Fife with a group of local cyclists and join Lib Dem activists and thousands of other cyclists in the Meadows ahead of his appearance at the Holyrood Pedal on Parliament rally.