Scottish Labour is outlining its plan to help people stay in work of find new jobs.

Anas Sarwar, party leader said the aim is to help people who are out-of-work, furloughed or in at-risk industries to retrain to find high-skilled jobs.

Sarwar said, under Labour’s plan, people who qualify would receive £500 to pay for training

He said the number of people affected who could qualify is set to reach 600,000 and the policy would extend in the future to sectors going through transformation like oil and gas.

He said: “This pandemic has created a jobs crisis in Scotland, and it is far from over.

“More than 360,000 of our fellow citizens in Scotland are still on furlough and by June a further 210,000 are expected to be unemployed. That ends in September and many are anxious about whether they will have a job to go back to.

“Put simply, we have five months to come up with a plan to stop mass unemployment.

“That’s why it’s time to ditch the old politics of division and focus instead on national recovery so that we can protect and create jobs.”

The Conservatives said the success of the vaccine programme means Nicola Sturgeon should offer more hope on easing lockdown further and faster.

Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, said: “The vaccine scheme has been a tremendous Scottish and UK success story.

“It’s shown once again that we are better off working together across the United Kingdom.

“But more than that, it’s opened up the possibility of getting the country back to normal a bit faster than we might have imagined possible only a few months ago.

“While we can’t lose focus on the health crisis or the looming jobs crisis, the public health data is now much more encouraging.

“We must continue to be cautious but we can now start to look forward to easing restrictions more optimistically.

“Nicola Sturgeon must outline a more hopeful plan in her BBC briefing today.”

The SNP today unveil plans for social security in Scotland including replacing the £25 UK Cold Weather Payment, based on temperatures with an annual £50 Winter Heating Payment.

Nicola Sturgeon said: “Since the Social Security Act was passed in 2018, the SNP Government has built a brand new social security system from scratch - one that has the principles of dignity, fairness and respect at its heart.

“We’re using these new powers to make a real difference to families across Scotland.”

While the LibDems said they were sceptical of plans for vaccine passports being considered.

Willie Rennie, Party leader, said “This is grossly unfair to the millions who have not been vaccinated yet and to those who have been advised not to take the vaccine.

“It is a massive step for the state to insist that people be vaccinated before accessing everyday services.

“People should have a chance to have a say on this major development and on my call for caution. The impact on young people and the risk of abuse are serious.”

The Scottish Greens announced plans to upgrade and decarbonise Scotland’s railways they said will create nearly 17,000 jobs.

Its Rail for All programme is a £22bn upgrade for Scotland’s railways, to reduce carbon emissions and better connect communities by rail with new stations and shift goods traffic from the roads on to the tracks.

Patrick Harvie, Greens co-leader, said: “Our proposals to upgrade Scotland’s railways are ambitious and transformative, but the climate emergency demands no less.

“Rail for All would improve inter-city services, upgrade regional links and open new stations across the country. It would help shift freight onto rail and reduce traffic levels on our roads.

“This will be crucial in cutting Scotland’s emissions.

“Successive governments have favoured roads over railways, but the Scottish Greens recognise the urgent need to reverse that, which is why we are asking people to vote like our future depends on it in May.”