Labour’s former home secretary Alan Johnson has said Ed Miliband should rule out going into coalition with the Scottish National party after the next election.
The MP for Hull West and Hessle said he did not know why his party’s leadership was “hopping from foot to foot” on the issue and he did not see a downside to ruling out a deal.
On Friday Miliband described speculation that Labour would come to an agreement with the SNP as “a piece of nonsense”.
The Conservatives have been pressing Labour to say whether it would go into government with the SNP, which is predicted to take many of Labour’s 41 seats in Scotland at the general election in May.
Speaking on BBC1’s This Week on Thursday night, Johnson said: “I don’t know really why [the party’s leadership] are hopping from foot to foot. I think they should rule it out. I can’t see a downside to it, but I’m not the leader and I don’t have the worry.”
Johnson, who was forced to rule out standing against Miliband to become party leader in November after rumours of a Labour coup attempt, said his party “couldn’t possibly do a deal with a party that wants to be out of the United Kingdom and give up our nuclear deterrent”.
He added: “We couldn’t possibly do a deal with a party on that basis and, also, if we said we’d go into coalition then it means in Scotland voting SNP means you can get a Labour government. So in a sense it might work against us, but I think it’s the right thing to do to rule it out.”
Johnson said he had not spoken to anybody in the Labour party on either side of the border who did not want Miliband to rule out a coalition.
Miliband said on Friday: “I don’t want a coalition with [the SNP], I don’t need a coalition with them, I’m not planning for a coalition with them – I couldn’t be clearer. They’ve even ruled out a coalition with us.”
Labour sources say the party has decided not to speculate on any possible coalition deals before the general election, no matter how unlikely they are. The party has not ruled out going into government with Ukip, though senior Labour figures are clear that they would not stand in government with that party.
On Monday the Conservatives released an election poster depicting a tiny Miliband in the top pocket of the former SNP leader Alex Salmond’s jacket. On Saturday David Cameron called for Miliband to explicitly rule out any deal with the SNP “if he cares about this country”.
“If you thought the worst outcome in this election is a Labour government led by Ed Miliband, think again,” Cameron said. “You could end up with a Labour government led by Ed Miliband, propped up by Alex Salmond and the Scottish National party. You could end up with an alliance between the people who want to bankrupt Britain and the people who want to break up Britain.”
