Ed Miliband officially rules out SNP coalition

Ed Miliband has officially ruled out a formal coalition deal with the SNP, and confirmed that there will be no SNP ministers in a government he leads. At a People’s Question Time event in Leeds, Miliband was clear:

“Labour will not go into coalition government with the SNP. There will be no SNP ministers in any government I lead.”

Speculation had been mounting that Miliband could rely on SNP MPs if Labour fall short of a majority in May. This has been fuelled by a Tory campaign pushing the idea that Alex Salmond will be the man who puts Miliband into Number 10 (and also, bizarrely, at one point Gerry Adams too).

Pressure had been mounting on Miliband, with Labour MPs in Scotland reportedly telling voters that an SNP deal is out of the question. However, Miliband has been fairly up front about his desire to avoid a coalition with the Nationalists, telling an audience of young people last week: “I don’t want a coalition with them, I don’t need a coalition with them, I’m not planning for a coalition with them”.

The Labour leader today portrayed the election as a choice between Labour and the Conservatives, who he described as a “threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom”.

He said:

“This episode also proves something else about David Cameron: he leads a Conservative Party that has given up on the Scottish people. A Conservative Party that now simply wants to use Scotland as a political device. A Conservative party that does not even try and pretend it can represent the whole country.

The Conservative Party is now a real threat to the integrity of the United Kingdom.”

He also picked up on the news that Nigel Farage is willing to go into a coalition with the Tories:

“Over the weekend we saw Nigel Farage announce that he wanted to prop up the Conservative Party in power after the next election. We saw Nigel Farage confirm that UKIP is a Thatcherite party which has already signed up to George Osborne’s plan for extreme cuts. We saw Nigel Farage confirm that he wants David Cameron to remain in Downing St.

UKIP is a party that wants to privatise the NHS. UKIP is now a party willing to throw in its lot with David Cameron. And the Tories are willing to go along with it.

The real danger to our country is a Tory government propped up by UKIP.

So this is the choice at the election. A Labour government or a Tory government.”

UPDATE: Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy says the announcement proves the only way to rid the country of David Cameron is by voting Labour:

“Both Labour and the SNP have now ruled out a coalition. There will be no backroom coalition deals between Labour and the SNP after the election. It’s clearer than ever that the way to get a Labour Government and remove David Cameron from Downing Street is to vote Labour.”