Scottish Tory leader refuses to rule out helping SNP at Holyrood

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has refused to rule out propping up the SNP in Holyrood, even as David Cameron prepares to visit Glasgow to warn that a Labour-SNP deal after the UK election would bring "chaos".

The prime minister visits Scotland's biggest city on Thursday to launch the Conservatives' Scottish manifesto, with the party looking to add to its one MP north of the border.

Both Mr Cameron and Scottish Conservative party leader Ruth Davidson have made a virtue of ruling out a Westminster deal with the SNP, saying they will not make an agreement "with a party that wants to break up our United Kingdom".

But speaking to the Financial Times from the campaign trail in Hawick, near the English border, Ms Davidson explained she could not rule out helping the nationalists in Holyrood after next year's Scottish parliamentary elections.

Ms Davidson said: "I think it would be very hard in the current climate to do that." Pushed to rule out the possibility altogether, she declined to do so, adding: "I don't see it happening."

The Tories helped keep the SNP in power in Edinburgh as a minority government in 2007-2011, voting through all four of the party's Budgets. That helped overcome Labour opposition, and in the view of some commentators set the stage for the SNP to win its unprecedented majority of 2011.

Annabel Goldie, leader of the Scottish Conservatives at the time, recently said: "When Alex Salmond needed the Tories, he couldn't get enough of our help."

Ms Davidson's words suggest such an ad hoc arrangement could be on the cards again, even if it would be more difficult to agree while the SNP continues to pursue a second referendum. Nicola Sturgeon, SNP leader, last week refused to rule out making a second referendum part of the party's 2016 manifesto.

But the comments threaten to undermine the Tories' campaign message in Scotland - that they are the most pro-union of parties - which Mr Cameron will repeat in Glasgow on Thursday. Launching his party's Scottish manifesto, he will say: "We've got Labour and the SNP on opposite sides - slugging it out - but if you take a step back they're really on the same side . . . Together, they pose a clear threat to the future of our United Kingdom. A coalition of chaos."

Mr Cameron will highlight figures from the last parliament which show the SNP voted with Labour more than 90 per cent of the time, including in almost every vote on welfare and the economy.

The nationalists have promised to block a Tory government after May's vote if they have enough MSPs, and have offered to help keep Labour in power. While they have ruled out any formal deal with Labour, figures from the last parliament suggest they have enough in common with Ed Miliband's party to help it pass most of its legislation.

Mr Cameron will also announce a package of measures to help the armed forces, including boosting cadet forces in schools and pushing companies to reduce the price of phone calls for servicemen posted abroad.

With three weeks until the election, the result in Scotland looks like it will be key to the national outcome, with the SNP still polling between 40 and 50 per cent in most surveys. Seat projections by forecasters suggest the nationalists will win the vast majority of Scotland's 59 seats at Westminster.

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