NICOLA Sturgeon has laid the blame for increasing numbers of Scots using foodbanks firmly at the feet of the Tories.

Campaigning in Inverness, the First Minister warned that an unfettered Tory victory at next month’s election would see an “even greater burden of needless austerity” foisted on Scots struggling to get by.

A recent report from the Trussell Trust suggested over 1,182,000 three-day emergency food supplies have been given to people in crisis in past year – 436,000 to children 145,000 of those three day emergency supplies have gone to people in Scotland, up from 133,726.

The charity say the jump is in part down to the effect of a six week waiting period as people transfer onto Universal Credit.

“The growth of foodbanks is a damning indictment of just how damaging Tory austerity has been to communities across Scotland,” Sturgeon said.

She added: “There can be no doubt that the Tories at Westminster would use a bigger majority at this election to make ordinary families bear an even greater burden of needless austerity.

Speaking to the BBC during the campaign stop the SNP leader also said the introduction of a 50p top rate of income tax could make an appearance in the party’s manifesto, expected in the next fortnight.

Her party supported the policy at the UK general election in 2015 but scrapped it at the last Holyrood elections after advice warned against having the 50p rate in Scotland but not in England.

The Tories warned Sturgeon against raising the tax rate saying it would force high earners to move south of the border. Labour said it was the SNP leader just trying to sound left-wing.

The top rate kicks in when taxpayers have earned £150,000 in a year. Income above that threshold is currently taxed at 45p in the pound.

“We fought the Scottish election last year on a manifesto that said we would not introduce a 50p top rate tax because we had been advised that we could lose money because of the potential for tax avoidance,” Sturgeon said.

“Although the Scottish government controls income tax rates we don’t control the rules over tax avoidance, so we thought that was a potentially damaging thing to do.

“We also said in our manifesto we would keep it under review. We are keeping it under review but have reached no conclusions on future years’ policy.”

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: “This desperate attempt to win back voters who are deserting the SNP for its record of failure in office won’t fool anyone.

“In 2015 Nicola Sturgeon supported a 50p top rate of income tax, then joined forces with the Tories to vote down such a proposal in the Scottish parliament.”

“She says one thing before an election in an attempt to sound left-wing, but acts right when she actually has to make decisions in g Tory MSP Murdo Fraser warned against the policy: “There is a real risk that if you go down this road you end up raising less money.

“There are only 17,000 Additional Rate tax-payers in Scotland and yet they contribute something like 14% of total income tax revenues.

“It does not take very many of those individuals to decide to relocate, or reorder their affairs in order to avoid the additional tax, in order that you end up with less money as a result.”

Meanwhile, Labour’s Gordon Brown is set to blame the SNP for stalling progress on tackling poverty in a speech today.

Campaigning in Kirkcaldy, the former Prime Minister is expected to say the real issue of the general election should be “social justice” and not the “two extremes of Scottish nationalism and Brexit nationalism.”