THE Scottish Parliament has only been back a week, and already the battle lines are being drawn for May’s election.

I’ve been unveiling new measures and funding to raise attainment in our schools in the next few years – a key personal priority of mine since I became First Minister.

As with all investments the Government makes, we must think long-term.

That’s why I was dismayed to read comments at the weekend from Labour’s Johann Lamont, questioning universal services such as free prescriptions, free concessionary travel, free university education and free school meals.

We call these services 'free' but, of course, everyone who pays taxes helps to fund them - so why shouldn't everyone benefit from them too?

The former Labour leader once claimed that Scotland was a “something for nothing” country because of such policies.

Meanwhile, the Tories confirmed at the weekend that they’d end free higher education in Scotland. They’ve also said that they want to reintroduce prescription charges.

I’m a firm believer in providing these services universally. Tory and Labour politicians claim that our approach is politically the easy thing to do – but in fact, the opposite is the case.

Because with our budget being squeezed ever more by the UK Government’s austerity programme, every penny invested by the SNP Government comes under increasing pressure.

But in the face of that pressure, the SNP will protect these policies, as they are the right long-term investments for making Scotland a fairer, healthier and more prosperous society.

A quick look at some of these policies in turn shows why this is the case.

Let’s take prescription charges. Before we abolished them, there were 600,000 adults living in families with annual incomes as low as £16,000 who could have to pay them.

Of course, many people were exempt, but the old system of working out who qualified was incredibly bureaucratic - and there was no automatic exemption for people in cancer treatment, or with certain chronic conditions.

A survey a couple of years ago of over 5,000 people with chronic conditions in England by the Prescription Charge Coalition, found that over one third of them said the cost of their medicine had prevented them from taking it as prescribed.

That means they could end up in considerably worse health - which is not only bad for them, but ultimately puts more pressure on our health service.

So it was better for everyone to just abolish them.

Let’s look at concessionary bus travel. I’m sure everyone reading this knows someone who find this policy to be a lifeline – helping people remain active and independent in older age and stay connected with family and friends.

Again - not only is that the right thing to do for them, but a healthier, more active population ultimately helps reduce the burden on our health and social care services.

And what about free school meals?

We recently marked one year since we rolled out free meals for all pupils in P1-P3, and it’s been very successful.

By removing the stigma of a means-tested system, we’re now seeing an increased uptake of healthy lunches among children – including among those who had already been eligible.

So not only will this benefit children’s health, but better-fed children can concentrate better – ultimately meaning that they’ll perform better in class.

That’s why child poverty campaigners have been so vocal in their support of our policy.

One other example is free university tuition.

I’ve said this many times, but as someone from a working class family in Ayrshire, I’d never have gone to Uni if I’d had to pay fees – and probably wouldn’t be First Minister today.

Many of the politicians arguing to scrap free tuition today were the ones who benefitted from free tuition as I did – we have no right to pull the ladder of opportunity up behind us.

Education should be based on the ability to learn – it should never be based on ability to pay.

These are just a few examples - I could go on and on about this topic, as I feel so strongly about it.

But given some of the comments from opposition politicians, the future of universal services looks set to be an issue in the election.

It’s the responsibility of politicians to look at the long-term and decide where we can make the biggest difference in creating a fairer, more prosperous Scotland - as well as ensuring that those who pay into society also feel they get something in return.

That's why I believe that universal services are worth fighting for.