Ruth Davidson: SNP-Labour pact ‘uncertain world’

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson. Picture: Neil Hanna

Ruth Davidson kicked off her election campaign by claiming a pact between Labour and the SNP at Westminster could result in Britain being “run into the ground”.

With four months to go till the election, party leaders have been rallying their supporters ahead of the campaign.

The SNP, which is ahead in the polls, is seeking to increase its representation at Westminster, with the aim of potentially holding the balance of power if there is a hung parliament.

Nationalist leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has already ruled out supporting the Conservatives if they fail to win a majority, but has suggested her party could do a deal with Labour, if it meets key demands.

In a letter to Conservative supporters Ms Davidson said the First Minister was “talking up an electoral pact between Labour and the SNP, with Alex Salmond heading back to London to seal the deal”.

The Scottish Tory leader, whose party currently has just one MP north of the border, stated: “The election is another four months off, and yet Nicola Sturgeon and Ed Miliband are already halfway down the aisle.

“Think what it would mean - a weak Ed Miliband as Prime Minister with the SNP pulling the strings. Just when families and businesses need some security, the Nationalists would plunge us back into an uncertain world.”

She insisted: “I don’t want to see Britain being run into the ground by a Labour-SNP pact.”

Ms Davidson said the referendum last year had resulted in a “decisive vote to keep Scotland part of the United Kingdom” but added: “I for one didn’t fight to secure our future last year just to see Ed Miliband or Nicola Sturgeon throw it all away.”

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She argued: “The truth is that the Scottish Conservatives are the only option in Scotland if you want to keep the UK together and keep Ed Miliband out of Downing Street.”

Ms Sturgeon has already called on those who voted against independence but want a stronger Scottish Parliament to back the SNP at the general election.

The party has launched a new campaign poster showing tartan seats in the House of Commons, which states: “The more seats we have here, the more powers we’ll have in Scotland.”

In a letter to SNP members, the First Minister said: “If Scotland votes SNP, there will be no going back to business as usual. Westminster will not be able to ignore Scotland and the promise of a powerhouse parliament that can create more jobs and protect our public service will have to be delivered.”

Meanwhile new Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy will today warn voters that backing any other party than his in the general election could leave David Cameron in Downing Street.

Labour won 41 seats in Scotland in 2010 and despite the SNP’s lead in the polls, Mr Murphy has said his party can retain all of them in May - with success in this vital to Ed Miliband’s bid to become prime minister in just four months time.

The Scottish party leader will use his first speech of the year to say that voting for the nationalists will not bring about a “kaleidoscope-coalition” where the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Green Party could all play a part.

Instead he will claim an increase in support for the SNP could leave Conservative leader Mr Cameron as the “accidental victor” leading another “true-blue Tory government” if Labour is denied a majority.

As many of those who voted for independence in the referendum “wanted rid of the Tories”, he will claim it “would be a cruel irony if a vote for the SNP delivered a Tory government”.

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