THE main parties' manifestos have all been published and with them the hope the promises they contain will win the voters over.

 

Pledges on the economy, jobs, taxes, welfare and defence dominate the commitments of the main parties.

The SNP hopes their prospectus will lead to dozens of new MPs travelling to London on May 8, while Labour appeals to working people to stave off the threat they could be wiped out by a nationalist surge.

The SNP has the biggest, a square 16 page picture heavy document titled Stronger for Scotland, with a smaller 40 page detailed booklet stapled inside.

Unsurprisingly given her approval ratings it has a big picture of Nicola Sturgeon on the front cover, again on page 2 and a message from the First Minister on page 3, despite the fact Ms Sturgeon is not a candidate in the election.

There is no sign of Alex Salmond, standing in Gordon, in the SNP manifesto and he is even absent from the big group shot picture of the candidates.

The SNP manifesto is all about having influence at Westminster and speaks about making Scotland's voice heard focussing on anti austerity, welfare, and fairness.

Ms Sturgeon says: "The SNP will use our influence at Westminster to help deliver positive change for the benefit of ordinary people not just in Scotland but across the UK.

Labours manifesto is smaller , but bigger. A 90 page A5 book introduced by both Jim Murphy and Ed Miliband.

Red writing printed on a white cover sets out the key message, it is an appeal to working people.

Mr Miliband says: " for me, the privilege of serving as Prime Minister in our country would be for one purpose alone: to work every day to help build a country that works again for working people."

Labours is dominated by plans to redistribute through taxes on the wealthy to pay for public services, like the mansion tax, bankers' bonus and 50p top rate, all now backed by the SNP.

The Conservatives produced an A4, 72 page vision with David Cameron and Ruth Davidson on the cover and with forewords inside. Ms Davidson is also not a candidate for Westminster.

The Tories focus on the economy, jobs and tax claiming to have turned the country around in five years, but with the job still to be finished.

Mr Cameron says: "More people are in work than ever before. Britain is back on its feet strong and growing stronger every day."

At 118 pages the LibDems comes in as the biggest packed with numbered paragraphs on every policy area.

It says it is placing education at the heart of its agenda, but unlike in 2010 make no mention of free tuition fees and concentrates more on schools.

The LibDems say they will balance the books fairly and makes much of the increased income tax threshold delivered over the last five years as a front page commitment in 2010.

Nick Clegg's party stays on familiar territory positioning themselves between the larger parties. The manifesto states: "Liberal democrats will borrow less than Labour and the SNP and cut less than the Conservatives."

The Greens 20 page booklet features no Leaders' pictures or messages and gets straight into the policies on page two.

Its first theme is equality not poverty and the first commitment is a £10 National Minimum Wage, more than £1 higher than any the other main parties.

With no comments from the leaders or co-convenor as the Greens have, there is a series of soundbite slogans to promote the message.

'Equality not Poverty, Public Services in Public hands, Power to Communities' proclaim the Greens.