PM: Labour can’t finish second then grab power
david Cameron last night warned voters will have ‘serious questions and problems’ if Labour tries to seize power having come second in the General Election.
in an exclusive interview with the daily Mail, he appealed to undecided, Lib dem and Ukip voters to swing behind the Conservatives to avoid the ‘chaos of Miliband plus the SNP’.
He issued his strongest warning about the legitimacy of a minority Labour government propped up by the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon and alex Salmond. They have vowed to try to install Ed Miliband in No 10 even if Labour wins 40 fewer seats than the Tories.
Mr Cameron was speaking as he prepared to launch a last- ditch, 36-hour marathon tour of the country that will go through the night and include a rally with Lon- don Mayor Boris Johnson. He will say that throwing away all the ‘work and sacrifice that has put the country back on its feet again… doesn’t bear thinking about’.
The Prime Minister made a scathing attack on Mr Miliband, who yesterday insisted again that the last Labour government did not spend too much taxpayers’ money and that he was ‘proud’ of its record.
Mr Cameron said a Labour government supported by the SNP would be deeply alarming because Scottish Nationalists ‘don’t care about what happens in the rest of the country’.
‘They don’t want the Westminster government to be a success, they don’t want the United Kingdom to be a success, in fact they don’t want the United Kingdom to exist,’ he said. ‘So the question is really is this a government that can serve the interests of the whole of the country and i don’t believe it could and i think people see that.’
asked whether a government led by a party that had failed to win the most seats in the Commons and votes in the country could have legitimacy, he said: ‘i think people would have serious questions and problems with it – and they would have every right to.
‘We need 23 more seats to win. if you want to avoid the chaos of Miliband plus the SNP, a Conservative vote on Thursday can deliver that security.’
Senior Labour figures are even considering the option of trying to persuade the Lib dems to join a ‘minority coalition’ if they fall short.
While they do not expect such a tie-up to give them a Commons majority, it would allow them to out-vote the Conservatives regularly, when the SNP abstained.
They also believe it would make it easier for a Labour-led government to get its business through the House of Lords, where no party has a majority, the BBC reported.
a new forecast of the likely result suggests Britain faces the nightmare of political paralysis – with no stable government able to be formed on Friday. The YouGov prediction said the Tories will win 283 seats, well ahead of Labour on 261, with the SNP the third largest party on 50 seats. The Lib dems would hold 32, Ukip two and the Greens one.
That outcome would mean neither a second Conservative-Lib dem coalition or some sort of Labour-SNP pact would be able to command a Commons majority.
Whitehall rules say an incumbent government is entitled to wait until a new parliament has met to see if it can command the confidence of the Commons and a Prime Minister only has to resign if there is a ‘clear alternative’.
Senior Labour figures insist it would be entirely legitimate for them to seek to form a minority government, even if they finish second, if it is clear their programme would win support from smaller parties. it would be the first time since 1924 that a secondplaced party had sought to rule.
amid signs of tensions within Labour at the wisdom of seeking to govern if the party finishes second, shadow Chancellor Ed Balls conceded it was likely the largest party would form the government.
‘all the evidence is the largest party is likely to form the next government. That’s historically been the way in Britain,’ he said.
Senior figures fear Labour could suffer a long-term backlash in England if Mr Miliband cobbles together a majority only with the help of Scottish Nationalists.
Miss Sturgeon said a government that did not reflect the choice of the Scottish electorate would not be legitimate. She said Labour should join forces with the SNP to ‘lock the Tories’ out no matter which is the largest party on Friday.
‘It doesn’t bear thinking about’