General Election 2015: Nicola Sturgeon dismisses Miliband claim of no Labour-SNP alliance as 'Westminster hitting the panic button'

The SNP leader said that after the election results were in, Labour would be forced to 'change its tune' on an arrangement with her party

Ed Miliband has repeatedly rejected Nicola Sturgeon's requests to make a deal that would keep the Conservatives out of government (AFP/Getty)

Ed Miliband’s promise that there will no deal of “any kind” with the SNP in a minority Labour government, has been dismissed by Nicola Sturgeon as evidence of “Westminster parties hitting the panic button”.

The SNP leader said that after the election results were in, and Mr Miliband faced heading a minority administration, Labour would be forced to “change its tune” on an arrangement with her party.

With the Scottish Nationalists still on course to hold the balance of power, and a deal with the Conservatives ruled out, her comment that “no party” could afford to “ignore” the SNP was aimed squarely at Labour.

Mr Miliband had previously rejected a coalition with the SNP. On the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, he hardened that line by excluding even a limited “confidence and supply” arrangement.

This would have meant Labour budgets and votes of confidence in the Commons supported by the SNP. But the Labour leader told the BBC he was “not interested in deals.”

Miliband's toughened stance indicates Labour believe the SNP will have little option other than to support policies if they chime with their own manifesto – and that this can happen without a deal (Getty)

He made clear that a Labour government would mean a Labour Queen’s Speech and Budget that had zero input from the SNP.

Mr Miliband has been under pressure from senior advisers to offer clarity on how he will deal with the substantial numbers of SNP MPs expected at Westminster. His toughened stance indicates Labour believe the SNP will have little option other than to support policies if they chime with their own manifesto – and that this can happen without a deal.

Despite a new Panelbase poll showing that Labour’s position in Scotland has worsened, with the SNP now forecast to win 53 of 59 seats north of the border, Mr Miliband nevertheless said he still believed his party could win in both Scotland and the UK.

Responding, the SNP leader said: "As we enter the final 10 days of campaigning, Westminster parties have hit the panic button. Instead of embracing the multi-party election that the public want, Labour and the Tories are clinging to the idea that they are entitled to a majority in Westminster. This isn't going to happen.”

Labour’s Scottish leader, Jim Murphy, will turn to personal attacks on Nicola Sturgeon, accusing her of masking her party’s real priority after 7 May (Getty Images)

With Labour’s Scottish campaign failing to dent unprecedented SNP support, the Conservatives are continuing to focus on the fear factor of a Labour-SNP pact. After the Home Secretary, Theresa May, said such a deal would be the “biggest constitutional crisis” since the 1936 abdication of Edward VIII, London’s mayor, Boris Johnson, delivered a follow-up, telling the BBC that Mr Miliband in power would have the SNP “on his back, crouching like a monkey.”

Labour are expected to change tack in their campaign in Scotland, using the coming week to claim the SNP are already planning a second referendum on independence.

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After analysis on the “bombshell impact” of Scotland having full responsible for its own finances, and claiming there are £28 billion in uncosted commitments in the SNP manifesto, Labour’s Scottish leader, Jim Murphy, will turn to personal attacks on Nicola Sturgeon, accusing her of masking her party’s real priority after 7 May. Speaking in Glasgow alongside the former shadow chancellor, Ed Balls, he will accuse the SNP of already planning a route towards a second referendum.

In Edinburgh, Mr Murphy called on Ms Sturgeon to “come clean” about plans for an imminent re-run of last year’s referendum.

He said : “A vote for the SNP will put Scotland on the road to a second referendum. Nicola Sturgeon promised this was a once in a lifetime event, then it was once in a generation, then it was 15 years, now it’s being planned for the 2016 [Holyrood] manifesto.”

The renewed focus on a second referendum came after Ms Sturgeon back-tracked on previous assurances and said she would know “in her gut” when the timing was right for a second vote and that she would decide.

Over the weekend the former prime minister, Gordon Brown, said a second referendum would mean a repeat of the “acrimony and divisions” within families and communities caused by last year’s vote.