Who ends up governing Britain after the election may well be determined by what happens in the Scottish seats. If the SNP take a slew of seats from Labour, it becomes far more likely that the Tories will be the largest party nationally. Add to that the fact that Cameron is the incumbent Prime Minister and he would, in these circumstances, probably be able to put together a deal that sees him carry on as Prime Minister.
Labour is acutely aware of this and is busy warning Scots ‘Vote SNP, Get Tory.’ But in this anti-politics era, these squeeze messages don’t work as well as they used to—as the Tories are finding out with their ‘Vote Ukip, Get Miliband’ warnings.
But, as Andy Grice reveals in his Independent column today , Labour won’t rule out some kind of deal with the SNP. As Grice writes, ‘Labour would like to rule out any post-election deal with the SNP, but its position in Scotland is so weak that this would alienate even more people’.
So, Nicola Sturgeon will continue making her pitch to Scots voters that a Labour government propped up by the SNP would be better for Scotland and more left-wing. While the Tories will continue to warn English voters that if you vote Miliband you might end up with Alex Salmond and his Scottish Nationalists telling him what to do.
Join The Spectator’s political editor James Forsyth for an exclusive discussion on whether ‘The era of stable governments is over’ on Monday 23 March at The Rosewood Hotel in Holborn. The panel also includes Matthew Parris, Jeremy Browne, Veron Bognanor and Dr Matthew Goodwin. The event will be chaired by Andrew Neil. In association with Seven Investment Management. For tickets and further information, click here.
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