Brown heads to Scotland to wrest initiative
from SNP

Gordon Brown: set to give backing to Wendy Alexander.
Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Gordon Brown will put education at the top of his agenda for Scotland today as he attempts to snatch the political initiative back from the SNP.

In his first speech to the Scottish Labour conference as prime minister, Brown will accuse Alex Salmond's nationalist administration of putting Scotland's prosperity at risk.

He will contrast Labour's record on investment in education against that of the SNP's since it took power from Labour last May and insist that Labour is the only party able to equip the country for future economic challenges.

Brown will point to his party's "historic investment in schools", highlighting its record on getting people into higher and further education.

The prime minister will accuse the SNP of cutting the budgets of colleges, universities and enterprise agencies and assert that Salmond has failed to commission a single new school building.

Brown is also expected to give his strong personal backing to Wendy Alexander, the party's embattled Scottish leader, who said she was "relishing" the prospect of her first conference as Scottish Labour leader.

Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary and Ms Alexander's brother, is also due to address the conference today while Des Browne, the Scottish secretary, will close the conference with a speech on Sunday.

March 27 2008, Friday.

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