General Election 2015: Lib Dems claim a minority government led by Labour or Tories would cost average homeowner £800 a year

Danny Alexander will warn of the dangers of a Labour administration propped up by the SNP or a Ukip-supported Tory government

Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury will say: “A paralysed government would soon lead to a paralysed economy.” (Getty Images)

A minority government led by “Muddled Miliband” or “Desperate Dave” would spell economic disaster for Britain and cost the average homeowner £800 a year, the Liberal Democrat minister Danny Alexander will claim.

He will deliver his party’s strongest warning of the dangers of a Labour administration propped up by the SNP or a Tory government supported by Ukip.

“An unstable government, unable to take serious decisions, pulled sharply to left or right, with Alex Salmond or Nigel Farage, would cost us all dear. It would jam the brakes on the economic recovery,” the Chief Secretary to the Treasury will say. “A paralysed government would soon lead to a paralysed economy.”

He will say that City institutions, economists and business chiefs are taking fright over the prospect of a shaky minority government, already resulting in volatility in the sterling and gilt markets.

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Speaking in Aberdeen, Mr Alexander will claim that the markets want the stability and balanced economic approach championed over the past five years by the Lib Dems within government.

He will argue that Britain has fought its way back towards economic health because of a “strong, stable and bold coalition”.

By contrast, he will say, unstable government after 7 May would lead to a weaker pound, the annual cost of borrowing rising by more than £4bn and the average mortgage jumping by £800 a year. “This is the price of a weak government, dragged further to right or left, abandoning the economic plan that has got the country this far.”

Mr Alexander will say: “Desperate Dave and Muddled Miliband will not admit it, but the only way either of them will become Prime Minister is by working with other parties.”

Labour would be reliant on “wily, unreliable” nationalists committed to tearing the UK apart, he will claim. “No matter how attractive in the short term to the prime minister sustained in office by such an arrangement, it is the long-term security and prosperity of all the people of these islands that will suffer.”

He will also claim that a Tory government dependent on Ukip would drive Britain towards an exit from the EU.