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General Election 2015: Ed Balls says Labour deal with SNP would be 'betrayal of English vote'

The remarks suggest Labour is worried that speculation surrounding a deal could alienate voters

Tuesday 14 April 2015 19:42 BST

Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls (Getty Images)

A deal between Labour and the SNP which favoured Scotland after the general election would be a “betrayal of the English vote”, Ed Balls has admitted.

The shadow Chancellor said yesterday that his party would refuse to sign up to an agreement with the SNP if the nationalists insisted on policies which would benefit Scotland ahead of England.

Ed Miliband has repeatedly refused to rule out some sort of deal with the SNP in the likely event of another hung Parliament after 7 May. But Mr Balls’ remarks, made to a local newspaper in Wolverhampton, suggest that Labour is worried that speculation about a possible deal may be alienating its core English voters.

Mr Balls said: “There is absolutely no possibility of any vote being put to Parliament or any measure in a Labour budget which would in any way disadvantage the West Midlands or any other part of England because that’s what the SNP demand. No way. Unequivocal. I’m not going to do it and Labour isn’t going to do it.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Show all 10

1/10In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Andrew Hawkins (ComRes)

“Events last week have reinforced my prediction that the Tories will be the largest party. Ukip’s slow puncture may help the Tories most, and Nicola Sturgeon may well fulfil her wish to keep David Cameron in No 10 by reducing Labour’s Scottish MPs to numbers that could fit in a stretch limo.”

Andrew Hawkins

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Joe Twyman (YouGov)

“The national picture remains largely unchanged, but YouGov’s Scotland polling shows the SNP at an all-time high. Only 44 per cent of Labour supporters felt Jim Murphy performed best in the first Scottish leaders’ debate.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Ben Page (Ipsos MORI)

“I need to see a more decisive shift in the polls to think that Labour have definitely moved ahead of the Conservatives. There has been more good news for Labour than the Conservatives, with Ed Miliband’s personal ratings improving. Still, a hung parliament remains the most likely option.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Rick Nye (Populus)

“No change.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Nick Moon (GfK)

“I haven’t changed my broad view that the Tories will be the largest party, but Labour is likely to form a minority government. Last week’s projection (Con 280, Lab 273) looks pretty likely to me. The risk for Labour was that, as decision time looms, voters might take ahold of nurse, but that may be mitigated by Miliband’s showing in the debates.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Damian Lyons Lowe (Survation)

“Unchanged, except for an SNP uptick at Labour’s expense. The SNP’s surge in Survation’s polling continues unabated. Nicola Sturgeon scored well in our debate polling.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Michelle Harrison (TNS)

“Despite all the sound, fury and bluster, there has been no game-changer. If anything, it’s become even tougher for the major parties, with signs of a softening in Conservative support and continued evidence that the SNP will inflict major damage on Labour.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

James Endersby (Opinium Research)

“Our latest polling figures, published today, show movement back towards the Conservatives (a two-point Tory lead). My prediction last week of a shaky sway back in favour of the Tories on election day holds fast; and with a hung parliament, who on earth knows who’ll be able to form a government?”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Martin Boon (ICM)

“At the equivalent point before the 2010 election, our poll suggested 37 per cent for the Tories and 31 per cent for Labour, which more or less nailed the actual result. I think that campaigns mostly reinforce perceptions rather than change minds.”

In pictures: Experts' predictions for the General Election - 11/04/15

Lord Ashcroft (Lord Ashcroft Polls)

He refuses to make predictions. “My polls are snapshots, not predictions.”

Rex

He said Labour had been “very clear” that a formal coalition with the SNP was out of the question, adding that Nicola Sturgeon’s party “can’t stand up for the interests of people in England because they want to break up the United Kingdom”.

He continued: “We’re going to put a vote to Parliament to abolish the bedroom tax. I want a Labour majority to get that through. If the SNP want to vote that’s up to them.

“But the idea them saying that we want you to advantage Scotland against the West Midlands to win their support, that would be a betrayal of the West Midlands, a betrayal of the English vote and we will not do it.”

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