That brings our live coverage of the Scottish Parliament election campaign to a close for the day.

A row over whether Anas Sarwar had told Malcolm Offord they should work together against the SNP dominated the headlines.

Here are the key lines that emerged:

• Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar branded Reform UK's Scottish leader "a liar" and "a pathetic, poisonous, odious little man"after the pair clashed on a Channel 4 debate last night, external.
• Malcolm Offord said Reform UK would not do a deal with Sarwar, but insisted the Labour leader made overtures to him at a debate last year.
• Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton described talk of a deal between Labour and Reform as dirty tricks.
• SNP leader John Swinney said it was up to Reform and Labour to explain themselves and reiterated he would have absolutely nothing to do with Reform UK.
• Ross Greer, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, said a Labour-Reform coalition would be “a disaster for Scotland”
• And Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said a potential election deal between Scottish Labour and Reform was “a complete and utter distraction".

Today's editor was Paul O'Hare and the writer was Craig Hutchison.

Thanks for joining us. We will be back early tomorrow for the build up to SNP's manifesto launch.

Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer was on BBC Radio Scotland's Mornings programme, a day after launching his party's election manifesto.

Among the issues he was asked about was anti-social behaviour.

Back on the campaign trail and Malcolm Offord has praised beef farming in Scotland.

Reform UK's Scottish leader was visiting a farm in Falkirk, near the Kelpies, which is owned by a Reform candidate.

He says: "Since Brexit sales of Scottish beef, which is the best in the world, have gone from £35m to £175m.

"The SNP want to bring in restrictions in how these farms perform and impose 'net stupid zero' policies."

Meanwhile, John Swinney says the cost of living will be at the heart of the SNP's manifesto launch on Thursday.

The SNP leader says there will also be proposals to expand early learning and childcare and help first time buyers.

He adds improvements in the NHS will also be delivered.

We will be covering the launch of the SNP manifesto and will provide reports and analysis on it throughout the day.

Image source, PA

Anas Sarwar has vowed to reverse “downgrade plans” for neonatal services that care for some of Scotland’s sickest babies if he becomes first minister.

The Scottish Labour leader pledged he would “protect quality neonatal services” if next month’s Holyrood election sees Labour defeat the SNP.

It comes as campaigners have been battling to prevent “award winning” services at University Hospital Wishaw from being downgraded.

A petition submitted to Holyrood argued that Scottish government plans to centralise care at three specialist units in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen could “place additional stress on expectant parents and premature babies”.

Sarwar said such plans showed that the “NHS is not safe with John Swinney and the SNP” and he pledged to "fix the mess".

Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer insisted "everyone in Scotland will have the opportunity to vote Green on their peach ballot".

Greer, speaking to Radio Scotland ahead of campaigning in Inverness, also argued that First Minister John Swinney is “absolutely wrong to be opening the door to new oil and gas fields”.

He says: “Clearly the Greens would only be part of a government that was serious about tackling the climate emergency.

“Nicola Sturgeon was serious about tackling the climate emergency, I think it is sad that since then the SNP has really dropped the ball.”

There are three ways to vote:

• in person at a polling station (often in places such as schools and community centres)
• by postal vote
• by nominating someone to vote for you (a proxy vote)

Image source, PA

You can register to vote online, external, external.

The deadline to register to vote is 20 April.

The deadline to register for a postal vote, external, external is 21 April and for a proxy vote, external, external is 28 April.

Image source, PA Media

Russell Findlay has urged postal voters to cast their peach ballot for the Scottish Conservatives to stop the “nightmare scenario” of an SNP majority.

He says his party is the "secret weapon" to prevent a fresh bid to break-up the UK.

Findlay's adds the focus of politicians should be the cost of living crisis and fixing "broken public services".

He says: "The Scottish Conservatives are the only party that can be trusted to stand up for the Union and against the SNP’s independence obsession.”

Back to the campaign trail and as we mention the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Alex Cole-Hamilton is in Glasgow today focussing on what he believes should be Scotland’s infrastructure priorities in the next parliament.

Cole-Hamilton says: “We can’t get Scotland’s economy moving, if we can’t get Scotland moving.”

He says his party will prioritise dualling the A9, bringing tunnels to Shetland and “fixing the ferry fiasco”.

The Scottish Parliament election will take place on Thursday 7 May.

Polling stations will open at 07:00 and close at 22:00.

A total of 129 MSPs will be elected to the parliament, often referred to as Holyrood after the area of Edinburgh where the parliament building stands.

Image source, PA

Now if you've just joined us, today's campaigning has been overshadowed by the row over whether Anas Sarwar had told Malcolm Offord they should work together against the SNP.

Here are the key lines that have emerged:

• Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has branded Reform UK's Scottish leader "a liar" and "a pathetic, poisonous, odious little man"after the pair clashed on a Channel 4 debate last night, external
• Malcolm Offord says Reform UK would not do a deal with Sarwar, but insisted the Labour leader made overtures to him at a debate last year
• Scottish Liberal Democrats leader Alex Cole Hamilton describes talk of a deal between Labour and Reform as dirty tricks
• SNP leader John Swinney says it was up to Reform and Labour to explain themselves and reiterates he would have absolutely nothing to do with Reform UK.
• Ross Greer, co-leader the Scottish Greens, says a Labour-Reform coalition would be “a disaster for Scotland”
• Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay says a potential election deal between Scottish Labour and Reform was “a complete and utter distraction"

Image source, Getty Images

Scottish Green Party co-leader Ross Greer says he is undecided on who to vote for in his own constituency in next month's election.

With Green candidates only standing in six of the 73 constituencies, he does not have the option of backing his party for the seat where he lives.

He ruled out Scottish Labour, blaming their actions in response to the Israel Gaza war, and highlighted that everyone can vote Green on the regional ballot paper.

Greer was questioned on BBC's Radio Scotland Breakfast following the party's manifesto launch.

"I've genuinely not decided yet with my constituency vote," he tells the programme.

"To be honest, the more I look around the parties, I can't vote for a Labour Party that helped commit a genocide in Palestine for example."

Read more here.

Graham Fraser
BBC Scotland

The organisation which oversees elections in the UK has launched a project to detect and act on deepfakes in the run up to the votes in Scotland, Wales and England.

The Electoral Commission says it will monitor deepfake audio and video which is intended to mislead voters about the electoral process or “falsely depict candidates”.

The move follows deepfake attempts to disrupt the Irish presidential election last year, when candidate Catherine Connolly was the subject of a deepfake video.

An AI version of Connolly appeared to announce her withdrawal from the election, when in fact she was still standing.

Vijay Rangarajan, chief executive of the Electoral Commission, said: “A deepfake is yet to meaningfully affect a UK election, and we are determined to keep it that way.

“This pilot means we can identify deepfakes quickly, track their impact, work with parties and candidates to take down or correct misleading material.”

Kirsten Campbell
BBC Scotland political correspondent

In every session of the Scottish Parliament so far the leader of the largest party has become first minister and formed a government.

But in a parliament of minorities that needn't necessarily be the case.

MSPs have to vote for the first minister, and the victorious candidate needs to secure more votes than all the other candidates combined to be elected.

If there are just two candidates then a simple majority is enough.

So it's possible that you could come second in terms of seat numbers, but have more support from other parties than the leader who came first.

If that is what Labour is thinking then it's entirely plausible that Anas Sarwar would encourage Malcolm Offord to back him for FM rather than allow John Swinney's SNP a record 5th term in power.

Depending on the numbers an abstention might be enough.

It doesn't need to mean a formal deal like a coalition or a partnership government is in the offing.

As always it will depend on what the electorate decides.

And it's worth bearing in mind that while it's risky governing as a minority because you need to strike deals with other parties to get legislation through and critically to ensure budget votes and motions of no confidence are won, the opposition parties also need to agree to disagree with the government in order to stop it getting its own way.

When there are a multitude of different parties with different views getting agreement on anything can be a challenge.

Phil Sim
Scotland political correspondent

Malcolm Offord says Reform UK would not do a deal with Anas Sarwar, but insists the Labour leader made overtures to him at a debate last year.

He says it happened in the green room following a recording of Question Time in November.

Sarwar says this is a lie.

But Offord tells BBC Scotland that it had happened - and that he would not work with Labour in any case.

He also declines to make a choice between Sarwar and John Swinney as first minister, and says the election is now a two-horse race between the SNP and Reform.

According to a poll carried out for BBC Scotland, three topics dominate voters' concerns: the economy, (including the cost of living), health and social care, and immigration.

You can read more about what issues voters said mattered to them here.

Reform UK had originally planned to do a press call this morning at the Kelpies - the gigantic horse sculptures outside Falkirk.

However this turned out to be news to the people running the site on behalf of the local authority, which has to remain strictly politically neutral.

So Malcolm Offord ended up speaking to the media at a nearby farm, owned by a Reform candidate.

The party had already planned a secondary event here - but in the end the pictures of the day have ended up featuring cows rather than steel statues of shape-shifting water spirits.

The Scottish Conservative leader has called claims of a potential election deal between Scottish Labour and Reform “a complete and utter distraction”.

Speaking in Stirling, Russell Findlay accuses Anas Sarwar and Malcolm Offord of “squabbling like a pair of schoolchildren”.

Asked if he believed the claim made by Offord, his former Conservative Party colleague, Findlay says: “I don’t care. It just seems to be tittle tattle, a conversation that may or may not have happened.“

Findlay also insists he hasn’t spoken to any other party leaders about entering into an agreement with the Scottish Conservatives.

Chris MacLennan
BBC Scotland

Ross Greer, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, says a Labour-Reform coalition would be “a disaster for Scotland”.

Greer has been in Inverness today, joining local activists on the campaign trail.

He says claims of talks between Labour and Reform comes as “no surprise” and adds that he feels the vast majority of people will not want to see the parties join forces.

Greer says the Greens represent “politics of hope, not the hate and division Reform represents.”

The Scottish Greens co-leader says it is “impossible” for his party to support a Labour led government.

He adds: “There are no circumstances under which the Greens can back Anas Sarwar to be first minister."

We hope to bring you some fresh comments soon from Reform UK's leader in Scotland Malcolm Offord.

BBC Scotland News understands the party had to cancel their planned campaign event at the Kelpies as they did not have permission to hold it.

It is understood they are moving the photocall to the local candidate's farm.