Ed spurns advances by Salmond but refuses to rule out a deal with SNP

ED Miliband has delivered a setback to Alex Salmond’s dream of being Westminster’s ‘kingmaker’ after he warned against ‘deals and coalitions’.

The Labour leader yesterday moved to dampen growing speculation that he could strike a pact with the SNP if there is another hung parliament.

But he refused four times to categorically rule out a coalition, sparking claims from the Nationalists and the Tories he ‘left the door open’ to the former First Minister.

Mr Miliband also slapped down senior politicians in his own party who sparked civil war last week when they attacked Scottish leader Jim Murphy for planning to spend ‘mansion tax’ revenues raised in London on hiring 1, 000 nurses in Scotland.

He said: ‘We’re a united kingdom – we

‘I’m not about deals

and coalitions’

care about each other across the whole of the United Kingdom.’

Mr Salmond aims to return to Westminster as an MP for the north-east seat of Gordon, and hopes his party will hold the balance of power after May’s election if either David Cameron or Mr Miliband is unable to form a majority government.

He has ruled out a deal with the Tories, but is willing to prop up Mr Miliband in Downing Street in return for a series of conditions described by critics as ‘independence through the back door’.

Mr Salmond wants what he describes as ‘home rule’ – seizing control of all taxes, pensions and plunging oil revenues – as well as a promise to scrap a replacement programme for Trident nuclear weapons.

But Scottish Labour’s election strategy is to warn that any seat gained by the SNP will decrease Mr Miliband’s hopes of becoming Prime Minister and increase the chances of Mr Cameron remaining in power.

A deal with the Nationalists – most likely a ‘supply and demand’ arrangement rather than a formal coalition – has not been fully ruled out by Labour, but senior Scots MPs are known to oppose it.

In a feisty exchange on BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Mr Miliband was asked: ‘Is there any kind of deal, agreement, arrangement that you would make with the SNP?’

The Labour leader robustly said: ‘I’m not about deals. I’m not about deals and coalitions.’

Marr then asked: ‘No deals with the SNP?’ Mr Miliband replied: ‘I’m about one objective, one objective,’ adding: ‘I want a majority Labour government.’

Mr Marr continued to press the Labour leader and asked: ‘I just want to know are there any circumstances in which this man would do a deal with Alex Salmond or Nicola Sturgeon to gain power?’

‘I’m not about deals and coalitions,’ Mr Miliband repeated, which Mr Marr described as a ‘slightly weasel word’.

‘No it isn’t, no it isn’t,’ replied Mr Miliband. ‘It’s a very… Look, I’ve got an old-fashioned view on this, which is that a majority government is what we need, is what this country needs – a majority Labour government.’

He was pressed twice more, but continued with similar answers.

SNP Westminster l eader and General Election campaign director Angus Robertson said: ‘Ed Miliband refused to rule out working with the SNP following the General Election, leaving the door open to the benefits of the SNP holding the balance of power in a hung Westminster parliament with a minority Labour government.

‘Left to their own devices, Labour would continue with austerity. With a strong group of SNP MPs holding the balance of power at Westminster, we can ensure that Scotland’s voice is heard.’

Scottish Conservative l eader Ruth Davidson said: ‘ With every week that passes, we hear more evidence Labour and the SNP are preparing to jump into bed with each other after May. Ed Miliband and Nicola Sturgeon are already halfway down the aisle.

‘A weak Prime Minister Miliband with Alex Salmond pulling the strings in Westminster should scare anyone committed to keeping the UK together, as we can only imagine the concessions the SNP would wring from a Labour party desperate for the keys to Number Ten.’