David Cameron has accused Labour and the Scottish National party of preparing for a “honeymoon in North Korea” by planning a pact to prop up a minority Labour government after the election.
In an unusually aggressive pre-election attack on Labour and the SNP, the prime minister said the two parties were planning the ultimate nightmare: “a unique, unprecedented coalition of the people who would break up our country and the people who would bankrupt our country”.
The Labour party, Cameron told the Scottish Tories’ annual conference in Edinburgh, was “spineless, weak, unprincipled, short-termist” for refusing to rule out a post-election deal with the SNP despite taking the leading role in last year’s anti-independence campaign.
“Nicola Sturgeon [the first minister and SNP leader] has made clear she is up for a coalition with Ed Miliband,” Cameron said.
“The SNP and Labour are halfway up the aisle together already. They’ve picked out the wedding list. They’ve booked the honeymoon, probably in North Korea. They’ve set up the joint account – unlimited overdraft, obviously.”
Tory strategists say Cameron’s blunt attacks on the two parties are designed to bolster the Tories’ credentials among floating anti-independence voters as the most pro-union, anti-nationalist party on offer, and to mobilise the Tory vote by making this a battle against the SNP.
Tory officials say there are tens of thousands of no voters who are undecided about which pro-UK to support at the May election, including many former Lib Dem voters who have abandoned the party, leaving some constituency races in prosperous areas of Scotland wide open.
Labour is fighting to win back up to 200,000 former supporters who were yes voters at the referendum and have switched to back to the SNP by insisting that every Labour seat lost to the SNP, which has a substantial poll lead in Scotland, increases the chances of a Tory victory in May.
Earlier this week, Margaret Curran, Labour’s shadow Scottish secretary, said Cameron “will have a smile on his face, hoping people vote SNP” at the general election to boost his chances of staying in Downing Street for another five years.
The SNP have made clear they would consider a deal with Labour, short of a full coalition, but only if Labour commits to the current unpalatable option of scrapping next generation Trident nuclear weapons, increasing public spending and pledging far greater tax-raising powers for Holyrood.
In his flag-waving speech, in which he made no new policy announcements, Cameron sought to reverse Labour’s position by insisting only Labour was willing to collaborate with the SNP. In recent weeks, the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, and Curran have refused to rule out a deal, chiefly because they fear alienating ex-supporters who could vote SNP.
“Isn’t it appalling that Labour won’t rule out this outcome, that they would wrap themselves in the flag one minute and the next be prepared to work with a bunch of people who would rip up that flag given half a chance?” Cameron told delegates.
If voters thought having a Labour government was “the ultimate nightmare scenario” then allowing the SNP’s former leader Alex Salmond in power was “like a real horror movie”.
Cameron confirmed the Ministry of Defence was pressing ahead with plans to build the new Type 26 frigates at BAE Systems’ yards on the Clyde, spending a further £859m on the contract and securing over 600 Scottish jobs.
Securing that contract and jobs were a major element of the UK campaign against independence during the referendum campaign, only for the first sea lord, Sir George Zambellas, to tell a defence magazine in November he could give the contract to a French-led consortium instead on cost grounds.
Cameron offered delegates a script to use during election campaigning, insisting the Tory-led UK government had created 100 new jobs a day in Scotland and built sound national finances. In contrast, the script says Labour and the SNP would increase spending and borrowing.
Referring to Sturgeon’s speech last week on public spending, Cameron said: “Last week the first minister gave a speech saying it was ‘morally unjustifiable’ to continue to restrain spending. I’ll tell you what is ‘morally unjustifiable’, first minister, and that is racking up more debt than our children and grandchildren could ever hope to re-pay, passing the buck like every other hopeless left-wing administration in history.
“And that’s why it will be us – the Conservative party – who will do the right thing, clear up this mess – and leave Scotland standing taller.”
