Burning their bridges

I am struck by the labour Party’s current posturing that it will not ‘do a deal’ with the SNP should it fail to win an outright majority in the forthcoming election.

Both parties share many policies, including the imposition of a mansion tax, a tax on bankers’ bonuses and re-introduction of the 50p top rate of tax. The SNP lost the independence referendum, pledging that this will not be an issue during the current Westminster parliamentary term, and ed Miliband liaised closely with Nationalist MPs when it came to the matter of military intervention in Syria.

In Scotland, labour is in coalition with the SNP in three local authorities. and if the argument is that the SNP’s constitutional position makes it persona non grata in dealing with it at Westminster, the case could similarly be put that being part of that very establishment would make independence harder.

let us also not forget that the Social Democratic and labour Party (SDLP), the party the labour Party associate with in Northern Ireland, is in favour of Irish unification. The labour Party has been very quiet on ruling out doing a deal with it because of its constitutional position.

By saying no deals will be done with the SNP, the Westminster parties are in effect saying the votes of a large chunk of Scottish voters are illegitimate and unworthy of influence, clearly threatening the existence of the UK.

In this tawdry search for votes in a tiny number of key marginals, the threat of not doing a deal with the SNP is proving highly divisive and short-sighted. and given that no party looks like winning an overall majority come Friday, they will need to stop digging trenches and start building bridges.

ALEX orr, Edinburgh.