THE first thought in Nicola Sturgeon’s mind every morning is that she is First Minister of Scotland.

It is a thought process she hopes will continue next week.

The SNP may have been in Government since 2007 but for Scotland’s first woman First Minister it is just the start.

She is making personal commitments, seeking her own mandate, putting education and childcare at the top of her agenda.

Being First Minister is a round the clock responsibility that you cannot escape and is one she says she relishes.

She said: “You never stop knowing you’re First Minister. You are never off duty, so it’s probably every morning the first thing that is in my consciousness. It is also a massive privilege.”

Ms Sturgeon has a two pronged battle in this election. She is the face of the SNP campaign, beaming down form billboards all over Scotland, and is in high demand from candidates to bring a bit of SNP glamour to their local campaign.

But she still has a constituency contest to win in Glasgow Southside and leaders neglect their constituency at their peril.

She said: “I’ve been there most days I think. The only time that hasn’t been the case is when I’ve been in in the islands and highlands or down in the Borders.”

In the city she has huge support but it is also home to her fiercest critics who lay the blame for cuts and job losses at her door.

When asked why no stone is left unturned to save 1500 council jobs in Glasgow she says the settlement was tough but fair.

Ms Sturgeon, said: “We work with councils to protect council investment as best we can. The overall council budget was a tough one. I don’t make any bones about that but when you take account of the transferred investment from the health service into social care it amounted to something like 1% of the total revenue expenditure of councils.”

There is no love lost between the Glasgow Labour leadership and the SNP Government and they have been at loggerheads since 2007.

She added: “I don’t for a minute say that’s easy but equally some of what we have heard from Labour councillors has been perhaps a bit political in its characterisation. So we will work with councils whatever its colour wherever they are in the country to protect local services.”

She says in fact the SNP has delivered for Glasgow and challenged to say how, a list is ready to roll of the tongue. New hospital a new college, help for small business, money for the NHS and for the Commonwealth Games.

She said: “We’ve done a massive amount for Glasgow. I think our record in and for Glasgow is a good one. As somebody who lives in and represents the city, I’m determined that as long as the SNP is in government Glasgow will be very much in the uppermost of our minds.”

Tax has been a key election issue and with the Greens advocating a 60p top rate and Labour calling for 50p, the SNP has been accused of being ‘timid” “talking left and acting right”.

Ms Sturgeon says she is in favour of a 50p rate but not yet.

Asked why she has changed her mind since last year when she called on George Osborne to re-introduce it, she says she hasn’t but that the circumstances are different.

She said: “I haven’t changed my mind that a 50p tax rate is right, but last year I was arguing for that across the UK this year it is in the context of Scotland doing it on its own. Because we are not independent, we don’t control what the definitions of income are, we don’t control the rules around income tax avoidance.”

She denies here argument is the same as George Osborne when he says that it would raise less cash because the rich won’t pay.

She added: “No it’s not. He has got the wherewithal to minimise those risks whereas I don’t that’s the difference. If Scotland was independent or I had those powers this would be a very different argument.”

Her priority, she says is education and childcare and says in five years she will be able to be judged on her record.

She said: “For the first time there will be the evidence here that will allow us to see what the attainment gap is and set targets for closing it and measure our success in doing that.”

She would like to go even further with childcare.

She said: “Over the long term and obviously I’m only talking over the life of one parliament, so I’m not making commitments on this, but over the longer term, I would like to see a state childcare system extend down the age range.”

Her opponents would like to see the back of her before then but she has bad news.

She says she hopes to put those ideas into practice, to be standing again as First Minister in five years’ time.