SEEING Scotland from the air gives you a fresh view on things.

I have criss-crossed much of the country in a helicopter over the past week or so, and the view from above brings a new perspective.

Everything is the same, yet different – a bit, perhaps, like Scotland may be after this election. In this extraordinary campaign, I have seen Scotland in all its huge diversity – from the lochs and glens of the Highlands to tight-knit streets, tenements and schemes of our cities, and all the rich variety in between.

What those flights to the four corners of the country brought home to me was that, for a relatively small nation, Scotland is a truly diverse place. But for all that contrast, the country seems to me to be more single-minded going into a General Election than I can ever remember.

Because there is a message that I have been hearing over and over as polling day approaches. It is a message that has been replayed back to me on the doorsteps, in the streets and at meetings time and time again over the past six weeks.

And that is that people the length and breadth of Scotland are tired of the Westminster parties and their dismal record.

They have had enough of the cuts agenda that has punished some of the most vulnerable families and communities in our society. And above all they are looking for their own voices – and for Scotland’s – to be heard at Westminster.

The establishment parties – the Tories, Labour and the Lib Dems – have let Scotland down for decades.

But this time, we can make Scotland’s voice heard like never before at Westminster by sending a big group of SNP MPs to the Commons. That means we can help halt austerity in its tracks – not just for people here in Scotland but for the many, many people across the rest of the UK who are also suffering as a result of the Tory-Lib Dem cuts over the past five years.

Labour, left to their own devices, would just continue on that disastrous path, slashing budgets, choking off growth and halting any chance of a sustained economic recovery which will help create well-paying jobs.

Our plan will see modest investment in vital public services like the NHS while still tackling the deficit. In health alone, our proposals to vote to restore England’s NHS will see an increase in health funding across the UK by £24 billion by 2020-21 – delivering a total of £2bn in extra funding for Scotland’s health service.

That is the kind of positive difference the SNP can make at this election, with investment in the people’s priorities rather than the obscene and immoral spending of £100bn on a new generation of Trident nuclear weapons.

I have lost count of the number of messages of support and encouragement myself and the SNP have received from people in England, many of whom have said they would also like to have the chance to vote for us at this election.

That demolishes the claims put about by both the Tories and Ukip – who have been trying to outdo each other in their increasingly hysterical attacks on the SNP – that people in England are all opposed to the kind of positive change we can bring to the whole of the UK.

I have made it very clear that, whatever the parliamentary arithmetic the UK wakes up to tomorrow morning, we will never back a Tory government. Indeed, if there is an anti-Tory majority, we will call on Labour to vote with us to make sure David Cameron and his party are locked out of Downing Street.

Last year, people in Scotland were told that their voices – and presumably their votes – really mattered. They were implored not to leave the UK, but instead to lead it. And for as long as Scotland remains part of the

Westminster system, that means our voice – and our votes – must have equal weight.

As I have made very clear, this election is not about independence or another referendum, no matter how many SNP MPs may be elected today.

This election is about making sure that Scotland’s voice is heard loud and clear, and that we have unprecedented power at Westminster.

So my appeal to people is simply this: Whether you voted Yes or No in the referendum, whether you’ve always voted SNP or never have before, wherever in Scotland you call home and whatever your background – let’s unite today to send a big SNP team to Westminster and make our nation’s voice heard there like never before.