The Scottish election campaign has entered its final week with the SNP focussing on health amid on-going wrangles with Labour.

Party leader John Swinney has announced new plans to ensure that doctors put NHS patients before private consultancy work.

Swinney has also begun a tour of Scotland by rail in which he will urge Scots to "release our potential".

But pressure is mounting on the party to explain the costs of independence to Scottish voters.

SNP treasurer Jim Mather has been put on the spot over the party's calculations.

After initially refusing to say how much independence would cost, Mather said "the cost at maximum would be the current running costs".

Labour sought to capitalise on the apparent confusion, with Andy Kerr saying the party was either "confused or dishonest".

"Either the nationalists have no idea how much their divorce would cost or they have made an estimate which they are afraid to talk about," said Kerr.

"They must now come clean and tell us which is the case."

Labour is playing a two card game - launching vicious attacks on the SNP whilst putting forward what it believes is a credible agenda for a second term.

First minister Jack McConnell on Thursday delivered a keynote speech in which he set out Labour's priorities for the next parliament.

"For social progress, modernisation and reform is absolutely essential. Indeed it is our duty. We mustn't stand still," said McConnell.

"Labour will invest in public services. But that investment is conditional. We will not waste Scottish taxpayers money. We will make every penny work for the people of Scotland.

"My mission, Labour's mission, is to help create a better Scotland. A Scotland we can all be proud to call home."

Despite McConnell's optimistic rhetoric, Labour's biggest fear is that its core supporters may stay at home and hand the SNP a victory by default.

His party will use the next six days to warn against the risks of "divorce" under the nationalists in a bid to lift turnout in its heartland areas.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats, who are attempting to rise above the bitter war of words between Labour and the SNP, are this week promising 3000 new teachers in Scotland.

Detailing the move on Wednesday party leader and deputy first minister Jim Wallace said: "Education is an essential investment in our young people for the future.

"Scottish Liberal Democrats are proposing dramatic changes in the number of teachers in Scottish schools and the way our children are taught.

"We will build on the renaissance in teaching brought about by the McCrone settlement - the improved atmosphere in our classrooms.

"We will combine it with the opportunity presented by declining school rolls to reduce class sizes and improve the range of learning opportunities available to children."

The Scottish Tories are going into the final week with a pledge to reduce the costs of government in Scotland.

After getting off to a bad start when two of its candidates defected to a new right-of-centre party, the Scots Tories have sought to focus on reducing waste and improving services.

Party leader David McLetchie launched a "super saver" campaign pledging to devolve power to the frontline and reduce red tape.

He pledged to cut business rates by nine per cent "so that Scottish businesses are no longer at a competitive disadvantage to those in England".

"We will scour the statute book and remove all regulations of no proven worth or need," he said.

"We will work with Conservative councillors towards a real-terms freeze in council tax over the next three financial years, which 56 per cent of Scots ranked as their top priority tax for reduction.

"We will also cut the parliament down to size. Fewer MSPs, fewer ministers, fewer bureaucrats, greater accountability."

The wild card in next week's poll is Tommy Sheridan and his Scottish Socialist Party.

Sheridan has attempted to capitalise on Scots anti-war sentiment to brand Scottish Labour as a traitor to its left-wing roots.

Some reports predict the party could secure as many as six seats - although the swift conclusion to the conflict has undermined one of its core messages.

It is hoping to persuade voters to use their second ballot paper - which determines who is elected from the top-up party lists - to vote Scottish Socialist.

"If seven out of every hundred Scottish voters give us their second vote on May 1, we could return 8 MSPs to Holyrood and give Scotland's consensus politics a serious wake-up call," said Sheridan.

The fate of Robin Harper, the Scottish Green Party's only MSP, will also be a subject of interest when the ballot papers are counted next Thursday.

Harper was swept into parliament on the top-up vote and hopes to do so again.

Like the Scottish Socialists the Greens are urging voters of north of the border to cast their second vote in the eco-friendly direction.

"In most of Scotland there is no point giving your second vote to Labour - it will simply end up in the bin," says national secretary Mark Ballard.

"These votes don't help elect any more Labour MSPs at all but these votes could be electing Green MSPs.

"If you vote Green, you will not completely waste your second vote. A vote for the Greens really has the potential to change the electoral outcome."