Alex Salmond hopes for voter rage at the polls

Published on Saturday 6 March 2010 19:20

ALEX Salmond has revealed he will make widespread anger at Westminster sleaze and banking bail-outs a key plank of the SNP's general election campaign as he warned Labour and the Tories yesterday of a growing "rage against the system".

Launching the SNP's election campaign, the First Minister outlined the themes he hopes will secure an increase in his party's Westminster seats and claimed the electorate was sick of "slick PR" telling them who to vote for.

During his Edinburgh speech, he uttered "rage" or "raging" six times. He said he was inspired by US rock band Rage Against The Machine's Christmas No 1 victory over The X Factor winner Joe McElderry – the result of an online campaign – to make anger at the current Westminster political system one of his main election themes.

Salmond said: "The people decided they would have their say. They raged against the machine. They voted – and they won.

"There is much to make us rage with politics today. Westminster expenses, greedy bankers, an illegal war, the deepest recession since the 1930s. And the obscene decision to waste 100,000 million on new nuclear missiles while public services are under real threat from the consequences of recession."

He added: "There is rage at the metropolitan political consensus. A consensus of cuts that has left the ordinary people of this country out in the cold."

The pundits and London politicians think they know what is going to happen on polling day, he claimed. He added: "They say it is all about Gordon or David, Labour or Tory, Tweedledum or Tweedledee. But they are wrong. The seats we are fighting, the constituencies we look to represent, these are not Labour seats, or Liberal seats or even SNP seats. They are not the possession of any one party.

"They are the people's seats. And it is the people of this country who will decide."

Salmond also used yesterday's campaign launch to welcome the prospect of a hung parliament at Westminster, saying a vote for the SNP could "balance it into Scottish hands".

An SNP spokesman said the campaign will focus on "the increasingly likely potential for a hung parliament and the importance of a strong Scottish voice at Westminster".

And while Salmond did not mention the target of winning 20 seats at the election,

SNP election co-ordinator Stewart Hosie insisted 20 seats was still the goal. He said: "It will not be easy but that is what we are aiming for."

The SNP strategy was dismissed by Labour last night, who accused the party of launching its campaign "for a Tory government". Scottish secretary Jim Murphy said: "

Everyone knows that only two people can become Prime Minister: Gordon Brown or David Cameron. The SNP's voting record in Westminster shows that they are more than happy to support the Tories in their ambition to throw away a future that is fair for all in Scotland."

Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said Salmond only had a "negative and petty contribution" to make to the election.

Tory MSP David McLetchie said: "Voters do not want a hung parliament at Westminster. They want a strong and stable government to tackle the legacy of Labour's debt mountain."