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Nicola Sturgeon yesterday accused Labour of trying to steal her most popular policies as she celebrated a decade of SNP power in Scotland.

The First Minister insisted the country has “come a long way” since Alex Salmond led the party to victory at ­Holyrood on May 16, 2007.

She claimed the SNP ’s success was shown by Labour’s general election manifesto copying key policies such as free university tuition, ending hospital car parking charges and scrapping the bedroom tax.

Speaking to activists in South ­Queensferry, outside Edinburgh , ­Sturgeon said: “We can be proud that when it comes to progressive policies, we are leading the UK.

“Labour launched their manifesto this morning and many of the policies will seem very familiar.”

Meanwhile, she said the Tories “who for years have mounted ideological attacks on policies as diverse as free prescriptions and council house building have now decided that they are both a good thing”.

The SNP leader added: “They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But in this case the imitation shown by both Labour and the Tories is anything but sincere.”

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Her party’s opponents accused the ­nationalists of presiding over a decade of division while failing to deliver on domestic governance.

Scottish Labour’s James Kelly said: “Whether it was scrapping council tax, cutting classroom sizes or abolishing student debt, the SNP’s promises have not been worth the paper their ­manifestos have been printed on.”

Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie MSP said: “Literacy has tumbled, the Scottish economy is on the edge of recession.

“We can’t afford any more tired neglect from the SNP.”

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said ministers could have achieved much more “if they hadn’t spent so much time trying to rip Scotland out of the UK”.