SHADOW Chancellor Ed Balls visited Glasgow with a warning another five years of a Tory government would take the country back 80 years.

Mr Balls said a Labour government would balance the books but do it fairly, tackling tax avoidance and taxing millionaires more.

He rejected calls by first Minister Nicola Sturgeon to abandon their finance plans and pledge to commit an extra £180bn in public spending.

Mr Balls visited Walker Precision Engineering in the east of Glasgow with Shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran.

He said: "A Labour budget would tackle tax avoidance and reverse the Tory tax cut for millionaires so we can balance the books fairly."

He repeated the Labour election message that a vote for the SNP will help David Cameron stay in power.

He said: "Every vote for the NSP is another vote which will make it much more likely that the Tories form the next government."

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy meanwhile delivered a speech to voluntary sector groups in Glasgow, promising to provide fairer funding.

He said voluntary groups were waiting right up until the last minute for funding unable to plan ahead for staffing or budgets.

He said: "In my discussions with voluntary sector organisations I have heard over and over again that many in the sector are often left with no idea whether they will have continuity of funding, and in some cases they are told with a month of funding left to exist.

"It wouldn't be acceptable anywhere else in the economy for workers to live with potential redundancy notices being handed to them year after year.

"It is time to act on this and give the third sector the security you need.

"Today I commit a Scottish Labour Government to longer term funding contracts for third sector providers and I would like us to move closer to parliament long contracts where that is possible and that all funding decisions should be made by January before the end of tax year.

The SNP said that both Labour and the Tories would continue with austerity.

SNP Work and Pensions spokeswoman Eilidh Whiteford said: "When Jim Murphy and Ed Balls were both members of the last Labour government, the gap between rich and poor only grew wider and no action was taken to tackle tax avoidance.

"With Labour signed up to further Tory cuts of £30 billion in the next Parliament it is clear that their toxic alliance forged during the referendum is alive and well.

"A strong team of SNP MPs holding the balance of power at Westminster can get rid of the Tories, be a force for change, and ensure that Scotland's voice is heard loud and clear - with real power to ensure that the people of Scotland feel the benefit of our country's wealth."