Nicola Sturgeon offers new deal to Ed Miliband

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the Scrap Trident event in Glasgow. Picture: John Devlin

NICOLA Sturgeon has offered a new deal to Ed Miliband to be part of an anti-austerity alliance of Labour and the SNP to “lock David Cameron out of Downing Street” after next month’s election.

The First Minister issued the appeal to the Labour leader, after she furiously denied reports this weekend that she had described Mr Miliband as “not Prime Ministerial material”.

Ms Sturgeon’s latest offer of a deal to Mr Miliband came as an Opinium poll showed the two main parties at level pegging with four-and-a-half weeks to go until election day.

Both Labour and the Conservatives are on 33 per cent, with Mr Cameron’s party dropping one percentage point since last weekend, while Labour is unchanged.

Ms Sturgeon said: “I repeat my challenge to Ed Miliband - if together our parties have the parliamentary numbers required after 7 May, and regardless of which is the biggest party, will he and Labour join with us in locking David Cameron out on Downing Street?”