The SNP will provide free bikes for children and cycle training as part of its plans on promoting active travel.

Nicola Sturgeon said her party will improve walking and cycling routes in towns and cities to make commuting without cars safer and help to meet a target of reducing car use by 20% by 2030,

She said: “We want to encourage good habits from the youngest age - so if re-elected we’ll provide free bikes for all children of school age who cannot afford them.

“We’ll also ensure every child in Scotland leaves school with the ability to cycle safely.

“Owning a bicycle should be a possibility open to everyone - so we’ll make loans and grants available for the purchase of pedal cycles and for their repair.

“And to continue improving the active travel infrastructure around Scotland, we’ll create, repair and improve a Scotland-wide active travel network to ensure that every town has access to a high quality and separated walking and cycling network.”

The Scottish Conservative said their plans for rebuilding Scotland’s economy would create hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next five years.

The party’s plans include a £500 grant for people to retrain and Rapid Retraining Courses to help people re-skill and move careers.

Its estimates its plan for job security councils would create 31,900 jobs, and another 40,000 from housebuilding and energy improvements.

Other policies include scrapping public car parking charges to help revive town centres and Green Growth proposals to help businesses innovate and create more green jobs

Douglas Ross, Scottish Conservative leader, said: “Our bold and ambitious proposals would create hundreds of thousands of jobs over the next few years.

“We have outlined a detailed blueprint to get Scotland’s economy moving again and start repairing the damage from Covid.

“Restrictions could be safely eased at a faster pace now to kick-start the economy and Scottish Conservative proposals would help businesses get back on their feet, so they can protect current jobs and start creating the jobs of the future.

“The looming jobs crisis must be treated as an economic emergency and tackled urgently by a Scottish Parliament 100% focussed on Scotland’s recovery.

Labour has launched a Women’s manifesto with plans to tackle the gender pay gap and help

encourage more women into leadership positions.

The party said the covid pandemic has seen women more likely to step back form work into caring responsibilities and also to lose their jobs.

It said it wants to ensure women are at the forefront of economic recovery plans.

Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour deputy leader said: “As we emerge from the worst of the pandemic, Scotland is at a crossroads.

“We can either allow the pandemic to take us backwards, or we can choose to invest in women as our economic powerhouse, unlocking billions in economic growth.

“Scottish Labour is committed to putting women at the heart of our recovery.

“Our Women’s Manifesto would deliver not only a fairer recovery, but a stronger Scotland.”

On the pay gap between men and women Labour is calling for statutory gender pay reviews across the Scottish public sector and would provide one-off central funds to pay for historical equal pay claims.

It would also cover private companies with over 250 employees who benefit from public procurement.

Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats revealed plans for 2000 paid graduate internships with small businesses.

The party will deliver a new £40m fund to support apprenticeships, offer jobs through public agencies and our new programmes for the creative industries.

Willie Rennie, LibDem leader said: “There are enormous challenges facing graduates in a covid economy.

“The Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned that graduates will likely find it harder to get work and will start off in lower-paying occupations than they might have expected. “