Magdalena Andersson, leader of the opposition Social Democrats, launched her election bus tour on Monday with a new slogan, "Time to take Sweden seriously", a press conference outside the party's Stockholm headquarters and an article in the Expressen newspaper.

"There are now only 41 days left until the election and it is happening at a time when the world around us is more dangerous and unpredictable than it has been in a long time," she said at the press conference. "That is going to put heavy demands on the leadership of Sweden, and at a time when powerful forces are trying to split us, we need to choose another way."

Andersson was scathing about the current government's management of the country, which she dismissed as marked by "divisive politics, failure, short-termism and misplaced priorities".

"People who work hard and do everything right have become poorer," she said. "We have had sky-high unemployment, growth far below our potential, a record number of bankruptcies, a dismantled climate policy, chaos in the classrooms, long waiting times in healthcare, elderly care that is not up to par and now at the last second, yes, then they borrow, putting the entire Swedish people in debt for temporary investments that only apply over the election."

If she was elected as prime minister in September, she continued, her government would instead focus its energy on "making Sweden stronger and improving everyday life for hardworking Swedes", following three core principles: "safer, richer, and more cohesive".

To make Sweden safer, she said her government would strengthen military and civil defence, increase the number of police officers on the streets, bring in tougher penalties for crimes, use new powerful anti-recruitment tools to stop children and young people being drawn into gun crime, and pass a Swedish mafia law, making it easier to jail gang leaders.

To make Sweden richer, she said she would focus on promoting technological advances in Sweden that would boost the economy while reducing emissions, she would increase child benefits, get rid of the first unpaid day of sick leave, improve pensions, and lower the cost of medication by bringing back high-cost protection. She said she would stop the owners of free schools from withdrawing profits, hire about 3,000 more teachers for the lower grades, and increase state control of healthcare.

When it comes to social cohesion, she said she aimed to make sure that everyone in Sweden learned the Swedish language, aimed to promote closer cooperation between the government and the business sector, academia, sports, and various associations, and wanted to push for "wide-ranging collaborations in parliament on issues that require long-term stability".

Andersson refused to be drawn on whether the proposal for increased state control of healthcare was a way of reaching out to the Christian Democrats, who are making giving the state responsibility for healthcare their chief campaign issue.

"I'm not going to stand and do government negotiations here and now," she said. "But I share the ambition that we need to have an increased state control over healthcare to lead to increased regional equality. The issue, though, is not that the state is not responsible but making sure that there is proper financing for the regions."

The Social Democrats' tour bus will on Monday drive to Uppsala, where Andersson will give a speech in the main square, then on to Furuvik and Falun in Dalarna.

The tour will then continue to Borlänge, Karlstad, Arboga and Eskilstuna.

Andersson is being accompanied by the party's finance spokesperson Mikael Damberg.