Ed Balls refuses to rule out deal with SNP

The Shadow Chancellor was speaking on the Andrew Marr Show. Picture: John Devlin

SHADOW Chancellor Ed Balls repeatedly refused to rule out the prospect of Labour striking a post-election deal with the SNP, but said his party had “no plans, no need, no desire” for a pact with the nationalists.

Mr Balls insisted he did not want to get involved in speculation about post-election deals with the SNP in the event of a hung parliament in which Nicola Sturgeon’s party held the balance of power.

However, Mr Balls speaking on BBC’s the Andrew Marr show, appeared to harden his language about the potential difficulties of a Labour-SNP deal to keep the Tories out of power.

He said: “We have no plans, no need, no desire to have any deal with the SNP.

“This is a party which wants to break up the United Kingdom. They’re not going to be able to stand up for the whole of the UK.”

Told by Mr Marr to say the words “I rule it out”, Mr Balls replied: “Ed Miliband said it’s nonsense. It’s not part of our plans.

“You know Andrew, you’ve been covering politics for 30 years, parties, large parties at this stage say we’re fighting for a majority and we are. I’m not going to get involved in speculation about post-election deals.

“We’re fighting for a majority.”

FOLLOW US

Twitter | Facebook | Google+

Subscribe to our DAILY NEWSLETTER (requires registration)

SCOTSMAN TABLET AND MOBILE APPS

iPhone | iPad | Android | Kindle