Scottish election 2021: Last day of campaigning

Here are five things you need to know about the final day of the Scottish Parliament election campaign today.

In the final day of campaigning for the Holyrood election, the main parties all made last-ditch efforts to drive home their key messages. SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon argued she could provide "strong, experienced leadership" to keep Scotland safe "at this critical time for the country". Anas Sarwar, leader of Scottish Labour, said Scotland faces a "stark choice" between the country's recovery from Covid and an independence referendum, while Douglas Ross said voting for the Scottish Conservatives in the regional list was the "tried and tested way to stop an SNP majority". Scottish Greens co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater urged voters "to take matters into our own hands" if they want Scotland to "lead Europe in tackling the climate emergency", while Willie Rennie insisted the Scottish Liberal Democrats campaign was reaching new heights as he took to the skies in a microlight.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been conspicuous by his absence from this Scottish election, but made a late intervention from the West Midlands, where he was campaigning for local and mayoral elections. The Conservative Party leader said now was not the time for a "reckless" and "irresponsible" second independence referendum. Asked if he would allow another vote on the issue if pro-independence parties win a majority in Holyrood, Mr Johnson added: "Let's wait and see what actually happens, but I think most people in Scotland, and around the whole of the UK, feel that - as we're coming out of the pandemic together - this is not the time to have a reckless and, I think irresponsible, second referendum."

Sir John Curtice, Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, told BBC Radio Scotland that of all the straw polls that have come out in the last 24 hours, the most optimistic prediction is that Alex Salmond's Alba Party could win 4% of the vote. It is possible this may give the former first minister's party one seat, but as Sir John explains, the crucial benchmark is 6%. "Once you get to 6%, you can anticipate picking up a seat at least in the majority of regions, but [Alba] seem to be well short of that. So unless the polls are badly out, it doesn't look terribly likely that Alba are going to ensure a significant addition to the total number of pro-independence MSPs in the next parliament." Read more of Sir John's analysis here.

BBC Scotland political correspondent Philip Sim reports that uniquely for a Scottish election, this isn't just polling eve - it's also dissolution day. This means the Scottish Parliament has now formally broken up for the election. There is still a government in place, but MSPs are out of a job. This would usually happen at the start of the campaign, six weeks before polling day. But Covid-19 meant members were kept on the books in case the parliament had to be recalled in the event of an emergency. This is just another way in which the pandemic election has been a bit different. Read more from Phil here.

Here is a selection of pictures from today's final day of campaigning.

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