Scottish National Party focuses on boosting economy in regional parliamentary election campaign

Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon pledged to boost the Scottish economy and create jobs if her party is elected for a third term in the regional government, local media reported Thursday.

Sturgeon made the remarks on her campaign tour for the upcoming Scottish parliamentary election on May 5 while visiting a shipyard in Port Glasgow, Inverclyde in western Scotland, which was recently saved from closure, said the online Scotsman newspaper report.

With the SNP plan of investment in new hybrid ferries allowing the shipyard to expand and take on more staff, Sturgeon said the economic plan includes fresh support to help businesses expand, a new annual innovation prize, an educational program aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship in the workplace and investment in apprenticeships, as well as other support to help young people find work.

The incumbent ruling party said it will triple the number of exporting advisers in Scotland and set up new innovation and investment hubs in London, Dublin and Brussels to attract inward investment and help businesses access new markets.

Scotland's economy has strong foundations, with favorable employment rate, booming inward investment levels and increasing exports, according to the Scottish first minister.

She added that a series of ambitious plans will be put in place to improve Scotland's economic performance by working to incentivize innovation and boost productivity to ensure that Scottish economy is able to meet its full potential, if the SNP is re-elected.

The SNP are projected to win a majority of the total 129 Scottish Parliament seats in the May election in Scotland, up from the 69 won in the 2011 Scottish parliamentary election.

First winning the Scottish parliamentary election in 2007, the SNP formed its first majority government in the region after the 2011 parliamentary election.

The SNP garnered a historic landslide of 56 seats out of 59 seats for Scotland in the British general election in May 2015, a sharp increase from only six seats at Westminster British parliament in the 2010 general election.

Source: Xinhua