The former SNP leader Alex Salmond has warned Ed Miliband he will find it difficult to avoid doing a deal with the Scottish National party in the event of a hung parliament after the general election.
Salmond, who is standing for election in Gordon, Aberdeenshire, said all parties would have to react to the “electorate’s judgment” after polling day. The latest Guardian seats projection has Labour and the SNP with a combined tally of 326, enough to form a parliamentary majority, although Miliband has ruled out any formal coalition.
If the election resulted in a hung parliament with neither of the main parties able to form a majority government, Salmond said on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the “most likely” outcome was an agreement by the SNP to support Labour on a vote-by-vote basis.
He said Miliband had been “foolish” to rule out a coalition with the SNP – even though it was not really on the cards – and suggested that the Labour leader had reacted because he was “under pressure from the Conservative press”.
“I think that after the election every Westminster politician will have to come and face the reality of the electorate’s judgment,” Salmond said.
“There is no disrespect or disgrace in any politician coming to terms with the democratically expressed position of the electorate. All politicians, those of us who are lucky enough to be elected, chosen by the people, will try to do their best as they see it in the interests of the people who elected them.”
Miliband repeatedly rejected pleas from the SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, to help keep the Conservatives out of power during Thursday night’s opposition leaders debate. The prime minister, David Cameron, claimed on Friday that Labour would be in hock to the SNP in any possible minority government.
Speaking in the West Midlands, Cameron said: “The fact is that Labour cannot win a majority on their own. They can only get into Downing Street with the support of the SNP. What is it that the SNP want? They want more borrowing, they want more taxes, they want more unlimited borrowing – they want all the things that got us into this mess in the first place.”
Miliband reiterated his position on Friday, saying: “The first budget of a Labour government is going to be written by a Labour government. It is not going to be written by Nicola Sturgeon or Alex Salmond or anybody else in the SNP.”
Salmond also told the Today programme that SNP MPs would be prepared to vote on England-only issues – such as health and education where power has been devolved to the Scottish parliament – if they affected Scotland.
“The vast majority of votes have an economic impact,” he said. “When I was a member of parliament before, I voted against foundation hospitals in England because I thought it would lead to the fragmentation of the health service and then have effects in Scotland. I voted against tuition fees for English students in England.”
