Sturgeon shrugs off Labour opposition to post-election deal

Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National party, has shrugged off Ed Miliband's opposition to a post-election deal between Labour and the SNP, insisting her party would still be able to "win changes and exert influence".

Ms Sturgeon said the Labour leader would be forced to talk to the SNP on an "issue-by-issue basis" to get legislation through the Commons and that her party would be in "a strong position".

Her comments were seized on by the Conservatives, who believe they are gaining ground in the final phase of the election as English voters recoil from the idea of Mr Miliband entering Downing Street relying on SNP support.

Michael Gove, Tory chief whip, claimed there would be "an unprecedented situation where a weak leftwing prime minister was held hostage every day".

There had been 1,000 votes in the Commons since 2010, he said, and Mr Miliband would need the agreement of the SNP's "fearsome 50" - the nationalists' predicted seat total -- for each vote to govern.

Mr Miliband tried to address the issue in Thursday's BBC Question Time debate, declaring: "If the price of having a Labour government is a deal or coalition with the SNP, it's not going to happen."

He explained that he was ruling out both a formal coalition, where SNP ministers would sit in the cabinet with Labour ministers, and a "confidence and supply" deal, where the SNP would agree to back a Labour Queen's Speech and Budget.

In effect, he was saying he would lead a minority government and present a Queen's Speech, daring Ms Sturgeon's party to vote it down.

Since the Scottish Nationalists have already said they would "lock David Cameron out of Downing Street", Mr Miliband calculates the party's leader would not dare bring down a Labour government if that led to the Tories gaining power.

But Conservatives say Mr Miliband would still need SNP support in the Commons to push through individual measures and would be forced to strike deals to the nationalists' advantage.

Andy Burnham, shadow health secretary, confirmed a dialogue was bound to take place. "Parties talk in the House of Commons about government business," he said. "That's what happens. All parties talk."

Peter Riddell, of the Institute for Government, recalled that knife-edge votes were a feature of minority government in the dying days of James Callaghan's Labour administration in 1978-79 and in the final months of John Major's Tory government in 1996-97.

But, he added, governments could carry out much of their work using executive powers, including over public spending, thus bypassing votes in the Commons. "There are non-parliamentary means of doing things," he said.

Mr Miliband's rejection of any SNP deal risked fuelling disillusionment with Labour among the party's traditional supporters in Scotland, many of whom have already switched to the nationalist party.

"If Ed Miliband is really saying that he would rather the Tories were in office than work with the SNP where there are things that we agree on, then I think Labour has lost the plot and they will simply never be forgiven in Scotland," said Ms Sturgeon.

During a campaign visit to the eastern town of Musselburgh, Ms Sturgeon said the SNP could "change the direction of government; you can defeat governments, you can persuade them to different things without bringing the government down".

"That's the arrangement that would enable the SNP to exercise real clout for Scotland," Ms Sturgeon said.

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