JOHN SWINNEY launched the SNP’s “left-of-centre” manifesto today as the First Mininster set out plans he hopes will stem the Labour tide.

Some polls are predicting the toughest election for his party since he last led it 20 years ago, but Mr Swinney’s SNP has pledged to break the “Labour-Conservative consensus.”

The 33-page paper proposed an “essentials guarantee” to ensure all UK residents can afford life’s essentials, as well as calling for a social tariff on utilities and an end to the two-child cap on benefits.