SNP would demand to be consulted by minority Labour government
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Version 0 of 1. Senior figures in the Scottish National party have threatened to oppose a minority Labour government if Ed Miliband refuses to negotiate with the SNP on his first Queen’s speech. Stewart Hosie, the SNP’s deputy leader, provoked a furious response from senior Labour strategists after saying his party would demand talks on the contents of Labour’s first legislative programme in return for their backing in a hung parliament, even without a formal deal. Claiming it would be “high-handed and arrogant” for Labour to refuse to negotiate if the SNP became the third largest party in the Commons, Hosie indicated that the Scottish nationalists would allow a minority government led by Ed Miliband to fall if it refused to negotiate on the Queen’s speech. Hosie told the BBC: “There would have to be a negotiation before the Queen’s speech. It depends on what Labour offers and it depends on what Labour said. It also depends what was in the Queen’s speech.” “Can we just be very clear here, because the politics of this are incredibly important,” he added. “If Ed Miliband is seriously saying that he thinks he could run a minority government without speaking to the SNP, if the polls are to be believed, that’s a very dangerous tactic for him to take. “It’s almost tantamount to saying if he doesn’t get his own way with a minority government, he’s going to carry David Cameron over the threshold of Downing Street and usher in yet another Tory government.” Hosie’s remarks signal a further effort to reinforce party leader Nicola Sturgeon’s message that the SNP plans to become Labour’s “backbone and guts” after the election. They will also provide further ammunition to Tories’ allegations that a Labour government would be controlled by the SNP. In a further display of the SNP’s desire to capture former Labour voters in Scotland, Hosie, who is also the party’s Treasury spokesman at Westminster, confirmed it would vote in favour of Labour’s proposal to increase the top income tax rate to 50p. Lucy Powell, Labour’s general election campaign coordinator, told the Murnaghan show on Sky News that the SNP were setting up “completely sort of ridiculous false scenarios.” She added: “[They] are not the kingmakers in this election. This election is a choice between David Cameron and Ed Miliband as prime minister ... [What] the SNP do is a matter for the SNP, not for the Labour party.” Sturgeon and her predecessor Alex Salmond have already stated the SNP would expect Labour to vote alongside them if David Cameron sought to form a minority government, by voting against a Queen’s speech from the Tory leader. Sturgeon also said that the SNP would expect to be given places on a large majority of Commons select committees if, as expected it won a swath of seats on 7 May, extending its influence over Westminster. SNP sources in the Commons said that expansion of its party’s reach would only stop at the health select committee, since health policy is devolved to the Scottish parliament. Repeated opinion polls have suggested the SNP is on course to win more than 40 of Scotland’s 59 Commons seats, demolishing Labour after decades of dominance in Scotland and replacing the Liberal Democrats as the third largest party in the Commons. The latest poll by the British Election Study put the SNP on 44% in Scotland and Labour on 27%, which, with barely five weeks until polling day, would represent a substantial shift in support. The poll found that 15% of new SNP voters were former Labour supporters who had voted yes to independence in September’s referendum. In her closing speech to the SNP’s spring conference in Glasgow on Sunday – attended by a record 3,000 delegates – Sturgeon disclosed that the party’s membership had reached nearly 103,000 after adding 700 members over the weekend. Labour sources said that despite the SNP’s bullishness, their decision to endorse a 50p top rate of tax was the latest in a series of Labour policies the party had now adopted. Those included tackling zero-hours contracts, increasing support for poorer students and raising the minimum wage. On Saturday, Sturgeon said the SNP would set a new rate of £8.70 per hour – a mark up on Labour’s £8 per hour proposal. Labour said the the SNP leadership has been “tying itself in knots” with its recent declarations. Jackie Baillie, Labour’s finance spokeswoman at Holyrood, said: “This exposes the confusion at the heart of the SNP: who is in charge? Last Sunday, the former first minister confidently asserted there would be no new taxes. Today, John Swinney declares his belated support for one of Labour’s progressive taxes. Who are voters to believe? Mr Swinney, or Mr Salmond?” |