£500m care pledge as Scottish Lib Dems launch manifesto
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have launched their manifesto for the 2024 general election.
The party's plans include a £500m "rescue package" for care, which it says will enable people to be released from hospital and relieve pressure on the NHS.
The manifesto also contains pledges to invest £170m in Scottish agriculture and ensure everyone has a warm home.
The proposals were unveiled by Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton and deputy leader Wendy Chamberlain in South Queensferry.
Mr Cole-Hamilton said: "Every vote for the Liberal Democrats at this election is a vote to elect a strong local champion focused on getting you fast access to GPs and dentists, and giving our nation's carers a fair deal.
"We will stop sewage being dumped in our rivers, lift up Scottish education, and deliver warm homes that insulate you from the cost of living crisis.
"Our vision is of a better Britain where we work in partnership, restoring your faith in politics and fixing our broken relationship with Europe."
He said that the "crisis" in social care was a major cause of the problems in the health service.
"Paid and unpaid carers do so much heavy lifting but they are being taken for granted and are struggling to make ends meet.
"They've been in the shadows for far too long," he said.
The party's manifesto pledges to create a new carer's minimum wage and to give family carers an extra £1,040 per year.
Mr Cole-Hamilton added that Scotland's farmers had been taken for granted by both the UK and the Scottish government.
He said the Lib Dems would invest £170m in Scottish agriculture, address worker shortages and make it easier to trade with European countries.
The party's other pledges include:
- Establish world-class mental health services, giving every school pupil fast access to a mental health counsellor, funded by £150m from taxing social media companies
- Generate an extra £1bn in capital funding to build new local health facilities, tackle the housing emergency and stop sewage dumping
- Make homes warmer and cheaper to heat with a 10-year emergency upgrade programme, starting with free insulation and heat pumps for those on low incomes
- "Lift up Scottish education" with steps to tackle the crisis in recruiting and retaining teachers
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, SNP leader John Swinney announced that the SNP would seek to introduce a "social tariff" on energy bills.
The first minister said the proposal would mean bills being halved for people with low incomes, disabilities or the elderly.
It would be funded through general taxation and "top slicing" profits from energy firms.
The Scottish Conservatives' deputy leader Meghan Gallacher accused the SNP of being "anti-business" while she was campaigning in Annan.
She called on the Scottish government to copy the chancellor Jeremy Hunt and extend the 75% rates relief for firms in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said his party would "reset devolution" if it wins the election on 4 July.
Speaking in South Queensferry as he unveiled the party's campaign bus, Mr Sarwar said Labour would take devolution "back to its founding principles, [and] get governments working together in the national interest."