SNP: 'Hung parliament can help Scotland'
Updated on 20 April 2010
As the Scottish National Party unveils its election manifesto, leader Alex Salmond says a hung parliament would provide Scotland with the "greatest opportunity".
Speaking at the launch of the party manifesto in Glasgow, Salmond said the prospect of no one party winning an overall Commons majority was now a "probability".
He argued that, in those circumstances, the SNP, which has set a target of winning 20 seats in the 6 May election, could seek to extract gains for Scotland.
The SNP manifesto sets out a number of areas where nationalist MPs would seek to make gains - by, for example, pressing for Holyrood to have greater financial powers. The SNP today called for further capital spending to be brought forward to boost economic recovery.
Salmond, who is standing down from Westminster at the election, argued that a hung parliament would be the "best thing for the people across these islands". A House of Commons where no one party had an overall majority could "help everyone", he said.
He urged voters to consider this when going to the polls, saying: "I think voting for the objective of denying the Labour or Conservative parties an overall majority would be legitimate and proper."
The SNP would not enter a coalition with any of the main UK parties as it had "fundamentally different" objectives, Mr Salmond claimed.
He declared: "A vote for the SNP is a vote for maximising the influence for Scotland."
Salmond was branded "Alex in Wonderland" today by Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott for a "dishonest" approach to economic reality.
"Salmond says the deficit can be wished away and Scotland can be insulated from the economic reality," Scott said.
"That is deeply dishonest and the Scottish people know it."
Gaby Hinsliff's analysis on how smaller parties are eyeing up a hung parliament
The crunch issue could be public spending cuts. Salmond's manifesto pledges to protect Scottish public services from cuts by what he calls "London-based parties", while Robinson promised to use any influence gained from a hung parliament to further Northern Ireland's interests.
And that could make the already fraught process of cutting the deficit even harder: if spending in some regions can't be chopped thanks to pork barrel politics, other parts of the UK may bear a bigger brunt.
It would be surprising if Salmond didn't seek, in any negotiations, to protect the generous terms of the Barnett formula governing spending in Scotland - which both main parties have been eyeing up.
Labour Holyrood leader Iain Gray said the SNP's manifesto was fundamentally weak.
"There are two massive credibility gaps in this manifesto," he said.
"No mention of their economic policy and complete silence on who they want to be prime minister in two weeks' time."
Tory shadow Scottish secretary David Mundell also hit out at the nationalist manifesto, saying: "Where was the independence word? Where were the coherent economic plans to help Britain out of the recession?"
