Polling stations opened today across Scotland to elect the next Scottish Parliament.

On the last day of campaigning yesterday, the political parties were hoping to persuade still undecided voters to give them their vote and urging their supporters to make sure they vote.

The SNP were hammering home their message of “both Votes SNP” as some may be considering voting for Alex Salmond’s new Alba Party, set up just weeks before the election.

Labour held a Drive-in eve of poll rally with former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Scottish Party leader Anas Sarwar repeating his message of focusing on a post covid recovery.

Meanwhile the Tories were pressing their plea to Labour and LibDem voters to switch their second vote to Douglas Ross’s party.

The Scottish Greens buoyed by the latest opinion polls suggesting they could get as many as 11 seats were highlighting the need to improve refugee rights and the Liberal Democrats were also seeking second ballot votes.

Nicola Sturgeon was coming to the end of a ‘Both Votes SNP tour of Scotland’.

She said: “With the election in just one day’s time, there are 24 hours to secure the strong, experienced leadership needed to keep Scotland safe.

“The result of every Scottish Parliament election is always on a knife-edge, nothing can be taken for granted – so please don’t leave it to chance: make it both votes SNP.

“The SNP is the only party with an immediate plan to get Scotland through the covid pandemic.

“And the SNP is the only party with a serious programme for government to kick-start economic recovery, to remobilise our NHS and to tackle the climate crisis - but to get that serious government people have to vote for it.

“The London based parties have fought the most negative campaign in the history of devolution with every one of them openly admitting they don’t want or expect to form a government. Instead they want to leave Scotland’s future in the hands of Boris Johnson.

“To avoid that risk I am asking the people of Scotland to re-elect me as First Minister so I can get on with the job of keeping Scotland safe and to lead the country to a better, brighter future.

Labour leader Anas Sarwar was looking to the future, seeking to rebuild his party.

He said: “We are building the alternative to Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP.

“This is not just about being the main opposition; it is about presenting a credible alternative to Scots for a future where we choose recovery over a referendum.”

While Gordon Brown told the rally: “The first duty of an incoming government is not a referendum but the recovery of the NHS. To care for Scotland’s 7000 missing cancer patients whose condition has gone undetected. For the 300,000 now languishing on waiting lists. For the 500,000 who’ve not been screened as planned and to end the SNP’s £1bn a year underfunding of the NHS every year of this decade.

“And if the SNP has not solved the waiting list problem, the social care problem, the mental health problem, in any one of their 14 long years they have been in power, they will never solve the problem now, so let them make way for Anas Sarwar and Labour representatives who can”.

The Tories got a boost from former Glasgow Cathcart Labour MP, Tom Harris, who had said he was backing the party with his list vote.

Douglas Ross, Scottish Conservative leader said: “It’s fantastic to hear that so many pro-UK voters, including the former Labour MP Tom Harris, will be lending their peach party list vote to the Scottish Conservatives to stop an SNP majority and stop another referendum.

“If we unite and bring back the Better Together spirit for one day only, we won’t have to go through the division and uncertainty of another referendum. We’ll stop the SNP again, just like we did by coming together in 2016.”

“There is only one way to guarantee we stop the SNP wrecking Scotland’s recovery and get all of the focus back onto rebuilding Scotland – lend the Scottish Conservatives your peach ballot, even if it’s just this once.”

The Greens Co leader Patrick Harvie visited a refugee charity, ‘Refuweegee’ in the west end of Glasgow.

Patrick Harvie, said: “Those who come to Glasgow seeking a new life deserve a safe home, and we know we can do more to help others who need a place to live free from the threat of violence or war.

“Groups such as Refuweegee do outstanding work in bringing our communities together and giving people from across the globe a friendly welcome to Glasgow.

“New Glaswegians are some of the most vulnerable in our city, with asylum seekers often having fled war, famine, and discrimination. In recent weeks we have seen Tory inhumanity at its worst with the reintroduction of dawn raids across Glasgow. This is simply unacceptable.”

The LibDems were also on the hunt for last-minute list votes.

Willie Rennie Liberal Democrat leader said: “The next Parliament must have a needle-sharp focus on helping education bounce back, cutting mental health waits, creating jobs for people desperate for work and taking action on the climate.

“Every Liberal Democrat vote in every part of the country, especially on the peach ballot paper, will help to elect more Liberal Democrat MSPs who will put recovery first. “