Salmond a desperate attention-seeker, says Osborne on poll visit

Published on Thursday 22 October 2009 22:15

GEORGE Osborne has accused Alex Salmond of "desperate attention-seeking" over his claim that 20 SNP MPs could hang the UK parliament "by a Scottish rope" after the general election.

Visiting the battleground of the Glasgow north-east by election yesterday, the shadow chancellor belittled Mr Salmond's claim that a bloc of Nationalist MPs could hold the balance of power at Westminster.

He argued that in a Westminster election there was a straight choice between Labour and the Conservatives, and that voters in Scotland would not change the government by voting SNP.

But the SNP said that, with the Tories currently holding only one Scottish seat at Westminster, voters knew that the choice lay between them and Labour.

Mr Osborne also warned that Mr Salmond would have to "confront the reality" of the economic situation facing government across Britain, with massive public cutbacks. Mr Salmond used the SNP conference last week to lay out his strategy ahead of next year's general election, arguing that a bloc of 20 MPs could end up with a hugely influential role.

With observers predicting a hung parliament, Mr Salmond claimed that such a group would then demand concessions amounting to 800 million in return for offering support for the government of the day.

But Mr Osborne said yesterday: "This is desperate attention-seeking by the First Minister. This is a British general election and it is either going to be Gordon Brown or David Cameron as prime minister."

He added: "This is the chance for the people of Scotland to change their UK government and you will not do that by voting SNP."

In his speech to the SNP conference on Sunday, Mr Salmond also hit out at Conservative plans to rein in public spending, saying they and Labour were offering a "miserable, depressing" prospect of public sector cuts.

But Mr Osborne said yesterday: "Alex Salmond, like everyone else in the country, has to confront the reality of the economic situation."

Mr Osborne insisted he was "optimistic" about the future economy but warned that the UK needed to reduce its debt before embarking on recovery.

The shadow chancellor also offered only lukewarm backing for the Barnett Formula – the method by which Scotland's block grant is funded – saying "we have not said we are going to get rid of the Barnett Formula".

Responding to Mr Osborne's remarks, a spokesman for the First Minister said: "The general election in Scotland will be between the SNP and Labour."