General Election 2015: Ed Miliband insists he will 'not do deal with SNP' to become PM

The Labour leader used the final TV debate to reassure worried voters

Opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband takes part in the "BBC Question Time: Election Leaders Special" (AFP)

Ed Miliband has said he would rather lose the opportunity to become prime minister than strike a deal with the Scottish National Party to prop up a minority Labour government.

In the final of the four TV election debates involving the party leaders, the Labour leader tried to reassure voters in England and Wales amid growing signs that they fear the SNP could wield huge influence in a Miliband government that lacked an overall majority.

However, a snap ICM poll for The Guardian found that 44 per cent of people thought David Cameron had performed best, with 38 per cent naming Mr Miliband and 19 per cent Nick Clegg.

The 90-minute BBC Question Time programme, in which the three leaders answered questions in separate 28-minute sessions, saw fierce clashes over whether a Conservative government would cut child benefit and tax credits to save £8bn.

A combative Mr Cameron insisted he did not support such proposals, which were made in a 2012 document revealed by the Liberal Democrats. But Mr Miliband said the Prime Minister had stopped short of giving a firm guarantee not to cut child benefit and tax credits.

Although the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon was not in the debate, repeated Tory attacks on the prospect of a Labour-SNP deal in a hung parliament forced Mr Miliband to toughen his stance on a post-election agreement with her party.

He said: “Let me be plain, we’re not going to do a deal with the Scottish National Party. We are not going to have a coalition. We are not going to have a deal.”

Crucially, Mr Miliband added: “If it meant we were not going to be in government, not doing a coalition or having a deal, so be it. I’m not going to sacrifice the future of our country, the unity of our country, I am not going to give in to SNP demands around Trident, around the deficit or anything like that.” He disagreed with Shadow Cabinet members who have hinted at such a deal, saying: “I’m the leader.”

However, the Tories pointed out later that Mr Miliband had not ruled out a Commons “vote by vote” arrangement with the SNP.

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Here is what the leaders said on key issues:

Welfare cuts

Mr Cameron dismissed claims he was secretly plotting to cut child benefit or child tax credits. “I don’t want to do that,” he said. “This report that was out today is something I rejected at the time as Prime Minister and I reject again today.”

He was barracked by the audience as he sidestepped questions on where £12bn worth of welfare cuts planned by the Tories would be made. He said: “We can reduce welfare if, for instance, we get another two million back to work. That will cut welfare bills.”

Mr Miliband said Mr Cameron had stopped short of a guarantee he would not cut child benefit or tax credits. The Labour leader gave such a guarantee, saying: “Tax credits and child benefit are on the ballot paper for this election. Millions of families face cuts.”

Mr Clegg said: “The Conservatives have a very unfair plan to balance the books. We are entitled to say ‘what are you going to do’, ‘who is going to bear the pain’?”

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg takes part in a special BBC Question Time programme (PA)

Economy

Responding to audience complaints that the economy could not be fixed if one million people used food banks and benefits were being cut, Mr Cameron said: “I’m not saying everything is perfect. I’m saying we have not finished the work. That’s why I am so keen to do another five years.”

He said: “You can pick the team that built a strong economy or the one that designed the building that fell down in the first place.”

Mr Miliband, who faced tough questions about Labour’s credibility on the economy, said: “We are absolutely deadly serious about getting the deficit down and balancing the books.”

He refused to accept that the previous Labour government overspent.

NHS

Mr Cameron spoke of his late son, Ivan, when he said the NHS had shown his family “love” and was his “life’s work”. He said: “It was always there for me and I will always make sure it’s there for other families.”

Immigration

Mr Cameron was accused by an audience member of lying for setting a target before the 2010 election to reduce net migration to Britain to “tens of thousands” a year. He said he had reduced immigration from outside the EU, but acknowledged that reducing the influx from the EU was difficult.

Mr Miliband said: “I am not going to pluck a [net migration] target out of the air … I cannot guarantee I would meet it.” He wanted to be “the first prime minister to under-promise and over-deliver” rather than the other way round.

Cameron: Up for the fight during a strong debate showing (PA)

Hung parliament

Mr Cameron said the British people deserved a referendum on whether to stay in the EU. “I will not lead a government that does deliver that pledge,” he promised. He was going “full out for victory” next week, but hinted he would form another coalition if necessary. He said: “If we fall short, I will do the right thing for the country. I did so last time and I would do so again.”

Mr Miliband said he would not “barter away bits of my manifesto… If I am prime minister, I am going to seek to implement all of my manifesto.”

In the event of a hung parliament, Mr Clegg said he would negotiate with the party that had a “mandate” from the electorate.