I’LL WRITE LABOUR’S BUDGET, BOASTS SALMOND

PM warns of Labour-SNP calamity as ex-First Minister is caught out in video

DAVID cameron has warned of a looming ‘ constitutional crisis’ after alex salmond was caught boasting: ‘ i’m writing labour’s budget.’ The Prime Minister joined forces with Boris Johnson to question the legitimacy of SNP plans to put Ed Miliband in No 10, even if Labour wins fewer Westminster seats than the Conservatives.

And the most senior Lib Dem in Scotland, Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander, warned that a loose Nationalist/Labour deal would be on ‘life support’ without knowing ‘when the cable is going to be pulled out’.

But Mr Salmond yesterday accused the Prime Minister of a ‘sense of humour bypass’.

As Scotland continued to be the

main talking point for the UK’s top politicians:

Mr Johnson risked antagonising Scots by warning of ‘ truckfuls of taxpayers’ dosh growling up the M1 to Scotland’.

David Cameron, writing in today’s Scottish Daily Mail, issued a plea to Unionist Scots not to vote tactically for Labour or the Lib Dems, in a slap down to Tory grandees.

Mr Salmond claimed that tactical voting against the SNP will not work because ‘those who live by the tactical vote die by the tactical vote’.

Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy ramped up his attack on the SNP by claiming that plans to hand full tax powers to Holyrood would put the state pension at risk.

On a visit to Scotland, Michael Gove attacked Mr Cameron’s critics within his own party, who have questioned why the Tories are talking up the SNP’s prospects on May 7.

Former PM Gordon Brown claimed the only way Mr Cameron can win ‘is to build resentment in Scotland of the English and resentment in England of the Scots’.

The SNP has declared it will never support the Tories in a hung Parliament but is ready to do a deal with Mr Miliband, even if Labour finishes in second place. This would be the first time since 1924 that a secondpl aced party had f ormed a government.

Last night, secret video footage of Mr Salmond raised new fears about the SNP holding the balance of power at Westminster after May 7.

At a fundraising event in the Highlands filmed on April 13, Mr Salmond is heard mocking Labour after shadow business secretary Chuka Umunna had slapped down Mr Murphy by saying: ‘The leader of the Scottish Labour party will not be in charge of the UK budget.’

Mr Salmond joked to the audience: ‘But then I knew that already, because I’m writing the Labour party budget.’ He also joked that he would ‘check his top pocket’ – a reference to a Tory election poster showing a miniature Mr Miliband in his breast pocket.

Remarkably, the campaign event was for former SNP treasurer Ian Blackford who is standing in Ross, Skye and Lochaber. In 2000, the relationship between the pair hit rock bottom when Mr Blackford claimed Mr Salmond had abused party finances.

The former First Minister said last night: ‘The point made in a lighthearted way was that Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy had been slapped down by his party bosses at Westminster and told that he would have no role in a Labour budget.

‘David Cameron is clearly a Prime Minister with both a people bypass and a sense of humour bypass.’

But London Mayor Mr Johnson, deployed to inject more passion into the Tory campaign, said: ‘Lots of people – people who might even have voted Labour – will think that this is a constitutional crisis.’

The Prime Minister, in his first joint interview with chief leadership rival Mr Johnson, added: ‘Imagine how much worse it would be, imagine how many pockets would be picked if this were to happen.

‘The stakes at this election have always been high. It’s about sticking with a plan that’s working or risking it with Ed Miliband. But frankly the stakes have got much higher because of what’s happening in Scotland with the SNP potentially wiping out Labour.

‘The way to avoid that outcome – which would be unstable, bad for the economy, bad for jobs, bad for l i ving standards, bad f or this country’s prospects – is to vote Conservative.’

Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: ‘Here we have the SNP-Labour offer in a nutshell: a chaotic pact with Britain’s future security treated like a dinner-party joke. This video shows the SNP’s arrogance laid bare.’

Lib Dem Mr Alexander said: ‘The danger of some of the things being talked about now, where the SNP is talking about voting on a case-bycase basis, having a minority government… given the scale of the economic problems and challenges we still face as a country, having a government that has to lurch from one vote to the next, not knowing when the cable is going to be pulled out of the life support machine, is something which would be really, really difficult for our country.’

After unveiling plans to limit the voting rights of Scots MPs and pledging an annual review of the Scottish Government’s decisions – branded ‘ checking Holyrood’s homework’ – Mr Cameron has himself this week been labelled a ‘threat’ to the Union and criticised by Tory grandees Lord Tebbit and Lord Forsyth. Mr Johnson did little to help the situation last night, when he said: ‘From my perspective where I sit in London, you would see truckfuls of taxpayers’ dosh growling up the M1 to Scotland. It would be a continual ransom by the SNP of a Labour government.’

Tomorrow, the Prime Minister and outgoing leader of the Commons William Hague will inflame the row further by launching a separate ‘English manifesto’ for the first time – as well as the traditional Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish documents.

But Conservative chief whip Michael Gove, on a visit to West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine, rejected criticism of his party’s warnings about the dangers of the SNP holding sway over a weak Labour government.

‘What’s putting the Union at risk is the prospect of an SNP victory in seats in Scotland, and the reason why the SNP have been doing well is the collapse in the Labour and Liberal Democrat vote,’ he said.

‘It’s the Conservatives who are the strongest party defending the Union, the strongest bulwark against separatism. I think it’s absolutely right that we should

‘SNP arrogance laid bare’

underline the risks of voting for a party that wants to break up the United Kingdom.’

Mr Miliband dismissed Mr Salmond’s claim as ‘fantasy and nonsense’ but again refused to rule out relying on SNP votes in a hung Parliament.

‘We are going to be writing the first Labour budget,’ he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

The Labour leader insisted he had no plans to negotiate, adding: ‘I am going to put a Labour Queen’s Speech before the Commons and people will have to decide how they vote.’ He also accused Mr Cameron of ‘trying to stir up English hatred against the Scots’ by highlighting the threat posed by the SNP’s Left-wing agenda.

Writing in today’s Mail, Mr Cameron rejects calls for antiSNP tactical voting. He writes: ‘Don’t be fooled into thinking that you should switch from Conservatives to Labour to dent the march of the SNP. That would have the opposite outcome.

‘A vote for Labour is still a vote for the SNP. They are joined at the hip.’

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