THE phoney campaign is over.

 

After all the build-up the General election campaign officially started yesterday.(Monday)

At least the phoney campaign is over.

It is now time for the people of Scotland to make the real choice - between five more years of Tory austerity, or Scottish Labour's plans to make life better for working class families.

With a change of government we can make Scotland the fairest nation on earth.

This is the most important election in decades.

Scottish Labour will work every hour of every day to show people that our plan for Scotland will make a real difference to their lives.

We know that what happens in Scotland will decide the outcome of this election.

If Scotland votes Labour, then Britain will have a Labour government, and we can start the job of rebuilding our country.

Gordon Brown highlighted our £800 million of extra spending to tackle the many social justice issues facing Scotland at an event with Margaret Curran in Glasgow's east end.

He also revealed Treasury documents that show the SNP government here in Scotland has publicly committed themselves to doing absolutely nothing about Tory austerity over the next 12 months.

What a contrast and what a message to all those who will decide how to cast their vote on May 7.

This is the social justice election and I'm clear about the message I want to deliver.

A couple of days ago I was in the Destiny church foodbank in the Gorbals, learning about all the good work they do there.

It is an obscenity that in Scotland today 71,000 people depend on food banks compared to 7500 four years ago.

It's an obscenity that 80,000 are on zero hour contracts not knowing if they will earn enough to pay their bills and it is an obscenity that 820,000 Scots are living in poverty, many of them in work, in a country as rich as ours.

Unlike our Tory and SNP opponents, Scottish Labour has a plan to deal with these social injustices, a plan funded by asking the better off to pay more in taxes to help the less well off.

So, with £150 million raised for Scotland from the banker's bonus tax we can guarantee a job or training for every Scots youngster out of work for a year and with our £200 million of receipts from the Mansion Tax on properties worth over £2 million we can recruit a further 1000 nurses for our hard pressed NHS.

We will also give a £1,600 Fund to every 18 and 19-year-old who doesn't go to college or university. Apprentices will also get free bus travel.

David Cameron is relying on a divide and rule strategy. If we are divided, he gets to rule.

Only Labour is big enough and strong enough to beat the Tories. A vote for any other Party risks David Cameron being re-elected and five more years of Tory austerity.

A fairer country is within our grasp. Let's seize it.

FRANCE 2016 is now firmly in Scotland sights after our win over Gibraltar.

There was a bit of a scare in the first half when the visitors equalised.

Our last appearance at a major finals was the World Cup in France 98, I was lucky enough to be in Paris for our group games, and John Collin's ice cool penalty to draw us level against a great Brazil team remains one of my favourite footballing moments.

Gordon Strachan is doing a great job with this Scotland side, and with the likes of Ryan Gauld at Sporting Lisbon showing the great talent we have coming through, the future is bright for Scotland.

I'M looking forward to Easter even more than usual this year.

For the first time ever I've managed to give up chocolate for Lent.

And with only days to go I'm nearly there. I usually eat four or five bars a day.

That pile of Easter eggs I've bought are going to taste extra special this year.