NICOLA Sturgeon has said any government elected must “reflect the whole of the UK” and cannot just be the “largest party in England”.
The First Minister also repeated her offer to help Labour “lock the Tories out”, and has said that even if Ed Miliband “is wrong-headed enough” to be reject an anti-Tory alliance and let David Cameron back into power, SNP MPs would “protect Scotland from the damage of a Tory government”.
Sturgeon was giving one of her final speeches of the campaign in Dumfries last night, following a whistle-stop tour of key seats in Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Helensburgh, Greenock, and Largs.
In Largs, an estimated 2,000 people took to the streets to see her.
Much of the election campaign has focussed on what happens on the negotiations to form an alliance the day after the election.
With polls showing that neither the Conservatives nor Labour are likely to have a working majority, and that the SNP look like they will take the majority of Scottish seats, Sturgeon is in a strong position.
In a special leaders edition of Question Time last week Miliband ruled out doing a deal with the SNP, even if that meant a Tory government. Speaking in Dumfries, the SNP leader warned Miliband that any government must be able to “win support that reflects the whole of the UK”.
Sturgeon said that Scotland has not always felt properly represented in Westminster. Scotland, she argued, has “had to put up with Tory governments that we have rejected”.
The First Minister continued: “So, surely a test of legitimacy that should be applied to whatever Westminster government is formed after this election cannot simply be that it is the largest party in England.
“The test that must be applied is whether a government can build a majority and win support that reflects the whole of the UK.
“English MPs will always be the largest part of any Westminster majority but to ignore Scottish voices would be wrong. So, if on Friday morning there are a number of progressive voices elected to Westminster from across the whole of the UK who, with Labour, can lock the Tories out and ensure influence and representation for all parts of the UK, that would be more balanced, surely, than a party trying to take power without UK-wide support.”
Sturgeon later added: “If there is an anti-Tory majority on Friday morning, we will call on Labour – even if they are not the largest party – to vote with us to keep the Tories out. Surely, any Labour leader who turned his back on that and allowed the Tories to get back into office, rather than work with the SNP to keep them out, as Ed Miliband suggested last week that he would, would simply never be forgiven in Scotland, or indeed in many other parts of the UK.”
The First Minister also issued a warning to Miliband: “A strong group of SNP MPs will not let Labour simply be a paler version of the Tories: we will challenge them to become a better version of the Labour Party. We will use our influence – whatever influence Scotland gives us – to make sure that the Tories are replaced with a government that is better, bolder and more progressive.”
The SNP leader said the election was “above all, about giving Scotland the power and the voice at Westminster that we need to deliver progressive policies for the benefit of Scotland and for the whole UK. If people in Scotland come together on Thursday to deliver a strong voice at Westminster, we can put those priorities and those values at the heart of the next Westminster parliament. We will do that not just for Scotland but for the UK as a whole. The fact is that ending austerity is just as important in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as it is in Scotland.”
The First Minister’s speech was immediately criticised by Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie, who said: “This shows a high degree of arrogance and conceit that the SNP believe they have won the election already before the polls have even opened. They wrongly argue that SNP is for all Scotland and all of Scotland is SNP.
“The Liberal Democrats have done more for Scotland than the SNP, delivering powers for Scotland, tax cuts, pension rises and more jobs so people have to decide who they believe will be a more positive influence in any UK government.”
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