- Miliband compares himself to former Labour prime ministers
- Miliband accepts responsibility for Labour’s performance in Scotland
- Miliband calls for search and rescue operations in Med to be restarted
- Cameron says Labour-SNP deal would be ‘match made in hell’
- Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP manifesto launch and Q&A - Summary
The BBC is currently replaying a Daily Politics election debate on the environment and climate change. Here’s a brief summary of the arguments presented by the five participants in the order they delivered their opening statements:
Hello, Jamie Grierson here, back until close of play. We’ll be looking for reaction to Ed Miliband’s interview with Evan Davis before wrapping up a hectic day of campaigning that once again stretched to all corners of the UK.
There are just over three hours left to register to vote so spread the word. It should only take three minutes to register here.
There is nothing political spin doctors dislike more, especially during an election campaign, than a candidate giving journalists a story, or “committing news” in the current jargon, when they are not supposed to. On that basis, Miliband’s interview was a triumph; he did not say anything newsworthy at all.
But, just because something is not newsworthy, that does not mean it is not interesting. It might have been an unproductive interview, but it was not a dull one, and I can think of at least three “things we’ve learnt”. Here goes:
Let me just explain the three positions. There is what you call Nicola Sturgeon’s position. She says no cuts are necessary. There’s the Tory plan which [excessive cuts]. I don’t think that’s a sensible position. And there’s our plan which is a sensible plan.
(I wrote this post earlier, as the interview was going along, but notice now that I forgot to post it.)
Q: As a matter of constitutional principle, after the election, do you think it is important that the biggest party in the Commons, the biggest party, the one with the most seats, should be given kind of time and space to form a government? That has the moral legitimacy to form a government.
A: I’m really sorry to be disappointing about this but I’m afraid I’m not going to get into post election speculation.
Davis ends by asking Miliband if he sees himself as a conviction politician like Thatcher.
A: Well I think comparisons like that are invidious and I don’t really want to be compared to a Conservative prime minister. I’d put it slightly differently which is I’d compare myself to previous Labour prime ministers. Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, Tony Blair – they all came in and said we need to change the old way of running things.
Davis asks if people should not have an extra child if they cannot afford it. Miliband says it is not for him to tell people how many children they should have.
Last week Davis asked David Cameron if he believed there were people who were undeserving rich. Now he asks Miliband if be believes in the existence of the undeserving poor.
A : I don’t like the phrase but there are definitely people who are – and it’s a minority – who could work but aren’t doing so and we need to get them back to work and we’ve got to be tough.
Davis presses him on this.
Q: If you were in charge for five years and at the end of those five years everybody was 30% richer, you had stupendous economic performance, but that the gap had widened, just supposed that had happened – it’s not likely to you say but if it did would that be failure?
A: It’s not going to happen, no. No look the evidence is just different from what you say. The evidence is – we’ve got to go by the evidence here.
Davis shows a clip from Margaret Thatcher in the Commons waving her fingers to show that socialists don’t mind how poor people are, as long as the gap between rich and poor is smaller than if the rich were very rich.
I think that misreads the evidence and the way the country succeeds – and let me explain why. Look, the old view, and this is what Lady Thatcher was saying there, is that inequality, so a more unequal society could somehow be better for everybody. Better for the richest because they’re obviously richer and better for the poorest because they were richer too. Doesn’t work like that. I mean it hasn’t worked. In fact there’s a huge amount of evidence now from around the world that more unequal societies are less successful societies. Why? Because if you don’t train your young people then you’re losing out as a country and you are less prosperous. If you try and believe that people can subsist on extremely low wages that isn’t good for people, that isn’t good for the people at the bottom of our society on the lowest wages, but it’s not for – it doesn’t make for a productive country either. You know productivity in this country is actually at its lowest level for 25 years. So if the Thatcher idea of a race to the bottom as I call it, low wages, insecure work was the way to succeed as a country, well we might be succeeding now but I don’t believe we are. So I think she’s sort of wrong in belief, wrong in evidence, wrong in outcome.
The Tories are heckling Miliband on Twitter.
Painful watching Ed Miliband trying to hide his deliberate policy to borrow every year and run a permanent overall budget deficit #GE2015
Miliband effectively says Ed Balls will be chancellor in a Labour government. See 6.09pm. But he won’t say so categorically.
I don’t do measuring the curtains.
Davis is now illustrating current borrowing and capital borrowing with an empty glass and a full glass. But Miliband still won’t accept that he will leave borrowing higher.
Q: There’s the current [deficit], which you say you’re going to get rid of, and there’s the other one left, the capital one. The water in this glass, this is borrowing to cover capital spending. The Conservatives say both those glasses will be empty.
A: I don’t think it’s going to happen.
A: Well, let me ex- let me... (talking together) Let me explain – let me explain, not it’s not, let me explain why. Look, we’re going to have a surplus on the current budget, right. I’ve dealt with it, let me answer the question. We want a surplus in the current budget as soon as possible in the next parliament. Now, what does that depend on? We’re going to make spending reductions, set out the tax changes we’re going to make, but it depends crucially on something else, economic growth. Why have the Tories failed on the deficit in this parliament? Because they made the cuts, but because they didn’t get the growth, the rise in living standards, tax revenues fell and they didn’t meet it. So I’m not going to – I’m not going to play a game with the glass of water.
Davis asks Miliband to admit that Labour would borrow more.
Miliband sets out his fiscal plans.
Q: But you haven’t answered the question as to whether borrowing at the end of the parliament – whether borrowing will be bigger than the Conservative plan.
A: I tell you what, I don’t believe it will. Because the Conservatives said they would eliminate the deficit in this parliament and they failed to do so. So they’ve made the spending cuts, but they haven’t cut the deficit as promised. The same will be true in the next parliament.
Davis tries to draw a larger point.
Q: So on issues about jobs, crime, social mobility, comments, predictions made by people in your team turn out to have been wrong. These are important areas. These are not minor quibbles are they? These are huge issues that have had a large part to play in the – the last five years.
A: I don’t think that’s a judgement that people are going to make at the election.
Davis quotes Chuka Umunna saying tution fees would discourage poor people from going to university.
A: There are some – there are some more people going to university from different backgrounds.
Q: It’s gone up, it’s gone up by a third in the last –
Evan Davis is interviewing Ed Miliband now.
Davis starts by asking why Ed Balls said we would never get jobs growth.
John Rentoul says Ed Miliband was right not to answer the interesting questions.
Hi, it’s Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Jamie.
I’ll be reporting on Evan Davis’s interview with Ed Miliband.
Normally, we expect the most interesting parts of an interview to be where an interviewee says something interesting.
Well, Ed Miliband turned that rule upside down today in my half hour encounter with him this morning. (This was the third of our Leader Interviews, and you can see it on BBC One at 19:30 this evening and a 10 minute version on Newsnight). The most revealing parts of the interview were where he said nothing.
My colleagues Libby Brooks and Severin Carrell report on challenges to SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon’s spending plans.
The first minister openly wooed English Labour MPs by committing the Scottish National party to backing key Labour tax policies, pledging that her party would “hold out a hand of friendship” rather than seek division at Westminster, they write.
But she soon came under concerted attack from Miliband and other parties for making a series of uncosted promises, including scrapping the introduction of universal credit, raising the state pension to £160 a week across the board, building 100,000 homes a year and insisting that work on the northern stretch of the new HS2 high-speed rail link started in Scotland at the same time as in London.
It’s been a day of hard-hitting politics with SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon rallying supporters in Scotland, drawing agitated criticism from the Tories, Lib Dems and Ukip and forcing Labour to confront difficult questions about post-election tie-ups.
Offering a little light relief amid this heavy political discourse is @cooledmiliband - a Twitter account offering occasionally disturbing and always hilarious mock-up images of the Labour leader “looking cool”. Enjoy.
Ed Jagger #HellYesEd #CoolEdMiliband pic.twitter.com/wiJRVvwBJD
Ed Solo #HellYesEd #CoolEdMiliband pic.twitter.com/ChcCOMkVO4
Ed's Fitness #HellYesEd #CoolEdMiliband pic.twitter.com/jdxQWKKLL7
Scotland remains the focus on the front page of tomorrow’s Morning Star as it declares “Miliband fights to win Scotland”.
Tuesday's Morning Star front page: Miliband fights to win Scotland #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/ZLFpbpmwAv
After Ed Miliband was mobbed by a hen party on Sunday, Channel 4 News’s Cathy Newman asks whether an apparent rise in popularity for the Labour leader could escalate to full blown “milimania”.
After the hen-pecking of @Ed_Miliband is #Milimania any more durable than Cleggmania was? My blog here http://t.co/B0Ire8c1rj via @sharethis
Andrew Harrop, general secretary of the Fabian Society, has labelled SNP policy as a “fiscal fantasy”.
In a strong takedown of the SNP’s proposals on the LabourList blog, Harrop argues the manifestos offered by Labour and the SNP are “worlds’ apart” after expecting them to be much closer.
After a full week to digest Labour’s offer, I fully expected an identikit policy programme, presented as a ‘hand of friendship’ from the SNP: part of the party’s lethal campaign to minimise the differences between itself and Labour; to prove to Scots that there is nothing to fear from switching to the SNP.
But it turns out that the programmes the two parties present are worlds’ apart: Labour’s is grounded in financial reality; the SNP’s is a fiscal fantasy, overflowing with unfunded spending commitments. In an election when even UKIP has a costed manifesto, the SNP’s prospectus is an insulting indulgence.
Returning north of the border, writer and journalist David Torrance argues in the Guardian that the SNP manifesto is full of inconsistencies - but with momentum and the trust of a large chunk of the Scottish electorate on its side this doesn’t matter.
He writes:
At the launch, Sturgeon said the manifesto was “bursting with ideas and ambition”, but it was also bursting with spending pledges and very little explanation of how they’d be funded beyond generalities. At points it resembles New Labour in its 2005 pomp; even the word “prudent” appears, alongside a Republican-like promise to “enshrine in law” deficit reduction and a balanced budget.
But the contradictions – some of them substantial – hardly matter, for the SNP possesses both momentum and the trust of a large chunk of the Scottish electorate. The Conservative defence secretary Michael Fallon called the manifesto “the most expensive ransom note in history”, but it will make life even harder for the beleaguered Scottish Labour party.
We will provide full coverage of Ed Miliband’s appearance on the Leader Interviews programme at 7.30pm as it happens live.
And here’s the full exchange between Evan Davis and Ed Miliband on the SNP “calling the shots”:
Q: Sorry. A lot of people think, a lot of people perhaps in England, some perhaps in Wales, think the SNP calling the shots on what a Labour government that may not have the –
A: That aint gonna happen. That aint gonna happen.
I’m looking at the full transcript for the forthcoming Evan Davis interview with Ed Miliband. Here’s the full Q and A about Labour’s failure in Scotland.
Q: Scotland. On your watch as leader of the Labour Party something huge has happened there. I think at the last election Labour got, what, about twice the votes of the SNP. In the polls now the SNP have about twice the votes of the Labour Party. Your personal standing in the polls there is behind David Cameron. Do you take responsibility for what’s happening there?
A: Of course. I take responsibility for everything that’s happening in the election, and that’s happened over the last five years. I think what we saw in Scotland was in the referendum a deeply, if you like, divisive moment, a moment that divided Scotland 45-55, Yes versus No. I think one of our tasks is to show people that this election is not rerun of the referendum, it’s about something else.
Miliband also told Davis that the Labour policy of repealing the Health and Social Care act would not amount to a “top down reorganisation of the NHS”.
Q: “Can you assure us there will be no top down reorganisation of the NHS on your watch?”
A: “Yes. We’re not going to have a top down reorganisation.”
Miliband refuses to say in the BBC interview how much a Labour-led government would be borrowing by the end of the next parliament.
The way you get credibility is not by picking out an arbitrary number today in six years’ time.
I think Ed Balls is an excellent Shadow Chancellor. I think you can take it from my answer what I’m planning to do. I’m not going to – I’m not going to start appointing members of my Cabinet. But I think Ed Balls has shown over the last four years and in this campaign that he is somebody who’s not just capable of being Chancellor but an excellent Chancellor.
Miliband denied the SNP would be able to dictate policy of a minority Labour government, in the Leader Interviews series to be broadcast at 7.30pm.
They’re not going to tell us, they’re not going to tell us. Look, I’m very clear about that.
Ed Miliband has said he takes full responsibility for Labour’s poor performance against the SNP in Scotland.
I take responsibility for everything that’s happening in the election, and that’s happened over the last five years.
The Guardian is working with the pollsters BritainThinks to conduct focus groups throughout the election with 60 voters in five key marginals. Each has an app to feedback what they are noticing in the campaign in real time. Here’s their reaction to the SNP manifesto and other issues of the day:
Our Scotland reporter Libby Brooks spoke to Labour leader Ed Miliband after his appearance at the STUC conference.
My message to the people of Scotland is that there’s a big choice coming up in the next two and half weeks.
You can have a Labour government with progressive policies or you can take a huge gamble by voting SNP and ending up with David Cameron and Nick Clegg back in power.
Again we see today the SNP not ruling out a second referendum in the next five years having said that this was a once in a generation decision.
If the SNP like Labour policies that’s a matter for them. The way to got Labour policies and a Labour government is to vote Labour. The truth is that the sNP are asking people to take a gamble.
British voters have “little appetite” for an SNP deal after the election, according to this fascinating poll by ComRes for ITV News.
59% would not like the SNP to be involved in next government, compared to 19% who would.
New poll for @ITVNews shows little appetite among Brits for an #SNP deal post-election #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/wsFh46qkIf
1/2 Polls like this from @ComResPolls may matter a lot after exln:Lab's long-term interests will be hurt by SNP deal pic.twitter.com/60NahHkSfj
2/2 Lab & Miliband's interests may diverge: SNP deal will be his only chance but wiser heads in Labour will say wait https://t.co/hM1unuVcDy
The SNP continues to be a thorn in the side of just about every political party. Our chief political correspondent Nicholas Watt has this exclusive report on growing Tory unease within the Tory party.
Leading Conservatives are playing a “short term and dangerous” game that threatens the future of the UK by building up the SNP as a way of damaging the Labour party in Scotland, Lord Forsyth, the senior Tory peer, has told the Guardian.
In a sign of deep unease among senior Conservatives at some of the party’s tactics, Lord Forsyth of Drumlean accused the prime minister of having “shattered” the pro-UK alliance in Scotland and stirring up English nationalism after the Scottish independence referendum last year.
I’m just going to take a Proclaimer-like 500 mile journey south from Ayr to St Austell, in Cornwall, where Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg has been campaigning in the key south-west battleground.
According to the Press Association, Clegg has suggested control of the Department for Education could be one of the key Liberal Democrat demands in any future coalition.
The Liberal Democrat leader said he wanted his party to run the department “on our own terms” after dealing with the “zany” ideas of former education secretary Mr Gove in the current Government.
Nick Clegg visiting a school in St Austell to announce plans to get "the politics" (ie. Gove) out of schools policy pic.twitter.com/PFvUHagaCU
Clegg says SNP economic plans are like him and Miriam leaving their credit card bill for their 3 little boys to pay off.
Here’s some images coming in to the Guardian picture desk of Ed Miliband looking very serious as he delivers his speech to the annual STUC conference at Ayr Racecourse.
My colleague Libby Brooks was at Ayr Racecourse for Ed Miliband’s speech to the Scottish TUC. She reports:
In a passionate address, the Labour leader didn’t mention SNP directly and said the tide was turning against the Tories in England and Wales.
Miliband said: “I call on you the people of Scotland, and yes on behalf of the people of Wales, England and the whole of the UK, I call on you to fight as you have always done for working people.
This highlight from Ed Miliband’s interview in tomorrow’s Time Out London magazine is proving popular on Twitter. Miliband gets to grip with yoof speak, yo.
Ed Miliband has the most heartwarmingly clueless reaction to finding out what yolo means (ht @TimeOutLondon) #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/RRObEHWgVJ
Miliband’s speech in Glasgow has come to a conclusion. Footage dropped off from the event, so I’ll bring you more substance as soon as we have it. In the meantime, here’s a couple of verdicts from the BBC’s Lucy Manning and Sophy Ridge from Sky News.
Very fired up speech from Miliband to Scottish trade union congress. He knows people in the hall could be crucial to ground war in Scotland
Short but passionate speech from Ed Miliband in Scotland. Didn't mention SNP once as called on Scotland to end Tory govt.
SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon’s performance at her party’s manifesto launch continues to attract favourable write-ups with the Guardian’s John Crace describing the first minister as striking the “perfect balance of coyness and majesty”.
Nicola Sturgeon has learned a thing or two about working the red carpet in recent months, and she was still on the stairs some 50 metres away. She gave a wave that struck the perfect balance of coyness and majesty – Princess Di in her prime – and then walked, ever so slowly, towards the platform.
While we’re looking at manifestos, Isabel Hardman in the Spectator has written up this critique of the overweight political pitches. It’s a great read and contains some top stats. Here’s a few highlights:
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy has delivered his verdict on the SNP manifesto launch. He says by refusing to rule out another referendum, the nationalists have broken a promise to the Scottish people.
When you look at all the pressures in Scotland - the growing gap between the poor and the prosperous, the crisis in the NHS and the number of people stuck on zero-hours contracts, then Scotland surely has higher priorities than thinking about another referendum.
This is a ‘say one thing, do another’ manifesto. They claim to support a UK-wide mansion tax at the same time as committing to cutting Scotland off from UK-wide taxes.
They claim that they can stop a Tory government when a vote for the SNP is the thing that David Cameron craves in Scotland.
The feed from Miliband at STUC Conference went down so here’s an overview of what reporters on the ground are seeing and hearing.
Scottish TUC not an easy audience. Some didn't clap when Miliband introduced. But they like his policies, esp on Zero hours. #GE2015
Ed Miliband speaking to Scottish TUC conference. His riff is "I won't tolerate that in the country I lead" pic.twitter.com/LySCYxzyBa
Miliband in Scotland: "the next Labour government will end Tory austerity." Miliband in England:"we are going to cut the deficit every year"
Cheers from #stuc15 as Ed Miliband promises an end to blacklisting #GE2015
The Labour leader is addressing the Scottish TUC in Ayr Racecourse. Before turning to electioneering, he discussed the tragic migrant deaths in the Mediterranean and called for search and rescue operations to be reinstated.
I believe all of us have been shocked and appalled by events in the Mediterranean. We can’t stand by as people drown in European waters seeking to escape war-torn Syria and Libya. It was wrong to end search and rescue operations. and they should be immediately restarted.
In his latest poll, Lord Ashcroft asked people whether they were moving towards or away from each of the main parties. He said:
Swing voters, who say they don’t know how they will vote or that they may yet change their minds, were more likely to say they were moving towards Labour (35%) than the Conservatives (24%) or the Lib Dems (19%).
A higher proportion of voters said they were moving towards the three established parties, and fewer said they were moving away, than was the case when I last asked this question in July 2014.
Are voters moving towards or away from Con, Lab, Lib Dems and UKIP? pic.twitter.com/iCz5oOMay8
The Conservatives lead Labour by 34% to 30% in the latest national poll from Lord Ashcroft.
The Tories are up one point since last week and Labour are down three, according to the poll conducted over the weekend.
Ashcroft National Poll, 17-19 April: CON 34%, LAB 30%, LDEM 10%, UKIP 13%, GRN 4%. Details on @ConHome, 4pm:
Good afternoon, Jamie Grierson here. I’m taking over the blog from Andrew this afternoon on what has been another busy day for the election campaign. The second episode of season five of Game of Thrones may be airing this evening - but I can assure you I’d much rather be here, keeping you abreast of the political developments across the country. If you want to get in touch, please Tweet me - @jamiegrierson.
Here is an SNP manifesto reading list.
The trouble for the SNP, is, having ruled out any alliance with one party, they will have a hellish time getting concessions out of the other, particularly as Ed Miliband will be loath to be seen to concede anything to the Nationalists. (And the more seats Labour lose in Scotland this time around, the less they will have to protect over the next five years.) It may be that, far from providing a stronger voice for Scotland at Westminster , the SNP find themselves largely ineffective in the Commons.
Although that, of course, isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world as far as their big argument is concerned.
I’m sure alert readers will highlight any errors or omissions, but by my reading of the two manifestos, the only positives an SNP vote brings is a promise of a higher minimum wage, and an admirable but almost certainly doomed-to-failure commitment to scrap Trident.
Across numerous other areas, a vote for the SNP rather than Labour will have a negative effect on public spending, health, economic growth, access to education and, fundamentally, on the core aim of Scottish Labour which is to deliver a fairer Scotland.
On the last day to register to vote, these were the most searched election-related questions on Google today.
How do I register to vote?
Is there some competition on today for the most preposterous Nicola Sturgeon column? Boris Johnson thought he had it all stitched up, but Piers Morgan has trounced him with this for Mail Online, branding the SNP leader “the world’s most dangerous woman”.
Today, Sturgeon unveiled the SNP’s manifesto with a speech of such dynamism that even many English voters were left drooling with admiration.
She’s made every other party leader look tame and lame by contrast and shaken the foundations of the UK’s political machinery to the very core.
Labour has overtaken the Tories as “best to handle immigration”.
Significant: Labour now seen as better than Tories at "dealing with immigration" pic.twitter.com/atF4l8DyOi (via @MSmithsonPB)
Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, has been responding to Andrew George’s claim that another Conservative/Lib Dem coalition “is not going to happen”. (See 10am.) Clegg told journalists.
I think if we were to enter into coalition again of course there would be much greater wariness. Of course there would be. It would be bizarre if people weren’t wary after the loss of MEPs and councillors and so on. Of course people are wary.
But wariness is one thing. Imposing some pre-emptive fatwa on any coalition arrangements before people have their say is entirely another and we’re not doing that.
Paddy Power say they have now got Ed Miliband as favourite to be prime minister for the first time since October 2014. He is priced at 5/6, with David Cameron at 10/11.
Jim Murphy, the Scottish Labour leader, has accused the SNP of breaking their promise over a second independence referendum.
The SNP promised last year that the referendum was a once in a generation deal. By refusing to rule out another referendum in their manifesto today, the SNP have broken that promise to the Scottish people.
This is a ‘say one thing do another’ manifesto. They claim to support a UK-wide mansion tax at the same time as committing to cutting Scotland off from UK-wide taxes.
They claim that they can stop a Tory government when a vote for the SNP is the thing that David Cameron craves in Scotland. And they claim to be against austerity when full fiscal autonomy means £7.6bn more cuts.
The SNP has said that a referendum on the EU should not be able to take Scotland out of the EU unless Scotland specifically votes for exit. As the Press Association reports, Sinn Fein argued for the same for Northern Ireland at their manifesto launch this morning.
Sinn Fein has supported a binding vote in Northern Ireland alone on EU membership if the rest of the UK decides for exit.
Martin McGuinness said the Tories were “sleepwalking” toward the door, and Gerry Adams claimed decisions in Sussex should not be decisive for the lives of people in Fermanagh and Tyrone.
Any circumstances Sinn Fein would consider taking seats at W'minster? asks someone. @GerryAdamsSF "No." Cue laughter/round of applause.
Here is Severin Carrell’s story about the SNP manifesto launch. And here’s how it starts.
Nicola Sturgeon has greatly intensified the pressure on Ed Miliband to strike a deal with the SNP, endorsing Labour’s key tax policies and pledging “the hand of friendship” to English voters.
In an assured speech at the launch of the Scottish National party’s election manifesto, Sturgeon confirmed for the first time that her party would back Labour’s mansion tax and the banker’s bonus tax, as well as its promise to abolish zero-hours contracts.
Two more @theSNP manifesto launch thoughts: a) hiring the entire EICA arena can't have been cheap; b) no sign, whatsoever, of @AlexSalmond
The Local Government Information Unit reminds me that there is another election taking place on 7 May. As this graphic explains, 279 English councils have got elections, and there are also five mayoral elections.
Leanne Wood, the Plaid Cymru leader, has welcomed Nicola Sturgeon declaration at her press conference earlier that she supports Plaid’s call for Wales to get higher funding from Westminster. (See 11.58am.) Wood said:
I am very pleased to hear Nicola Sturgeon supporting Plaid Cymru’s key commitment to securing parity with Scotland for Wales.
Just as the SNP is doing for Scotland, Plaid Cymru is fighting for the best deal possible for Wales in this election.
Here is more from Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem Scottish secretary, on the SNP manifesto.
This is a manifesto of short-term thinking leading to long-term debt.
Instead of taking the opportunity to map a route out of debt, Nicola Sturgeon is sticking with a plan to plunge the country further into it.
Boris Johnson, campaigning this morning in the safe seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, renewed his assault on the prospect of a Labour/ SNP government. Speaking to the Guardian beside a replica Spitfire outside the RAF bunker where Winston Churchill oversaw the Battle of Britain in 1940, he compared Nicola Sturgeon to “a scorpion”, adding to the list of likenesses he has applied to the SNP leader which have so far included King Herod and Lady Macbeth.
He was responding to a question about reports the SNP would block defence spending bills under a Labour government unless the replacement of the Trident nuclear deterrent.
People need to wake up to the reality that there is no way to have a Labour government except as the puppet of Scottish nationalists. There’s nothing wrong with the Scots having a strong effect on British life, of course they should. The issue you have is you have a party whose aim, ethic, charter and mission is to destroy the United Kingdom. They have no interest whatever in the political health of Ed Miliband or the UK. People need to realise that Miliband is in the position of the frog carrying the scorpion on his back. You can see already that the ransom they are starting to demand on issues like defence and welfare, reforms which the vast majority of moderate Labour supporters believe in.
Populus has got a poll out today. Here are the figures.
Latest Populus VI: Lab 34 (-), Con 32 (-1), LD 9 (-), UKIP 15 (+1), Greens 4 (-), Others 6 (+1). Tables here: http://t.co/E8evdFMOjW
Here’s the SNP manifesto (pdf).
And here’s the SNP news release about it.
Here are the key points from Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP manifesto launch and Q&A.
David Cameron was one of those politicians who, entirely legitimately, sought to persuade, and ultimately successfully persuaded, people in Scotland, to vote against independence on the basis that Scotland’s voice could and would be heard within the Westminster system.
If Scotland chooses now, as it is democratically entitled to do, to make its voice heard by voting SNP, then it is completely outrageous and unacceptable for any Westminster politician to say to Scotland that that’s not acceptable. It is tantamount to saying your voice will be heard, as long as you vote the way we want you to vote. That’s not acceptable.
Although I should not be running the risk of giving David Cameron any unintended good advice, I think he’s making a huge tactical and strategic mistake in assuming that people are [scared of the SNP]. My experience, and it’s anecdotal, is that people across the rest of the UK are as hungry and restless for progressive change as people in Scotland are.
It think [Cameron’s comments] are born out of panic and desperation ... I also think they will appal people across Scotland. They are a clear attempt to undermine the principle and the practice of devolution. There is also something of an irony to hear the prime minister of a government that racked up hundreds of millions of pounds worth of debt saying that it is going to “check the homework” of a government that has balanced the books in every single year it has been in office.
If he did say that, then that is an entirely offensive comment, and I think it will be treated as that not just by people in Scotland but across the UK, who, in my experience, ordinary people the length and breadth of the UK, do not see Scotland that way at all and do not see the SNP in that way at all.
I’m told, although I’m not sure if it’s true, I’m told that he was not keen to sit next to me on the sofa of the BBC while he made the comments. I’ll leave him to confirm or deny if that was the case.
Although you can’t vote SNP your views do matter to me and you have a right to know what to expect of my party if the votes of the Scottish people give us influence in a hung parliament. If the SNP emerges from this election in a position of influence we will exercise that influence responsibly and constructively, and we will always seek to exercise it in the interests of people not just in Scotland but across the whole of the UK ..
My interest is in seeking to build alliances across the UK for better politics and better policies, because that will help people in Scotland. I’m not trying to hid my political beliefs as far as independence, but I’m saying very clearly we can work together to get the change that people in Scotland want and many, many people in the rest of these isles want as well.
I am being absolutely clear. If you vote SNP on May 7, you are not voting to give the SNP a mandate for a second referendum. Something substantial would have to change.
Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has reaffirmed Labour’s opposition to a coalition with the SNP. He said:
Ed Miliband in the debates last Thursday said no coalition is not on the table with the SNP and we are not going to start negotiating our budget with the SNP no way. The budget, tax rates or the defence of our country we produce will be written by Ed Miliband and by me, and by the cabinet.
The only reason this on this agenda is because David Cameron is flailing around in his desperate election campaign making allegation after allegation. The reality is the SNP want a Tory government and the Tories want the SNP to do well. They’re in bed together.
Here’s today’s Guardian three-minute election video, with Jonathan Freedland and Deborah Orr discussing the SNP manifesto launch.
Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, is taking an even more hostile stance to the SNP than the Conservatives. He has issued this statement, accusing the Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems of all showing “appalling weakness” in the face of the SNP.
David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg have all shown appalling weakness in the face of the aggressive tactics of the SNP which threaten the future of the United Kingdom.
All three of them have guaranteed the continuation of the Barnett Formula in its present guise, ripping-off English voters and throwing truckloads of English money over Hadrian’s Wall. All three signed that appalling pledge just before the referendum promising the Scots almost anything they wanted. Well I didn’t and I intend to speak up for England.
Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem Scottish secretary, has said the SNP wants to take the UK back to an economic model that has failed.
Alistair Carmichael: "SNP want to take us back to the economic model that crashed and leave future generations to pick up the debt" #GE2015
Here is the full text of Nicola Sturgeon’s speech at the SNP manifesto launch.
Here’s a Guardian video with a clip from the SNP manifesto launch.
Here is a round-up of Twitter reaction to the SNP manifesto launch and Nicola Sturgeon’s Q&A.
Generally, political journalists and commentators were very impressed.
After a week of political cross dressing Nicola Sturgeon has just pinched Labour's interview suit. #GE2015
Nicola Sturgeon confirms that she now the most forceful voice in British social democracy. #GE2015 #snpmanifesto
it has taken15 minutes for @NicolaSturgeon to mention Scottish independence. Amazing
Vote SNP for a better Labour government is @NicolaSturgeon big simple message - hideous for @Ed_Miliband, music for @David_Cameron
Impressive performer Nicola Sturgeon. Answers questions fully and passionately #SNPManifesto
Might be popular @Ed_Miliband were to make @NicolaSturgeon DPM
How on earth did Scottish Labour fail to spot and recruit a talent like Nicola Sturgeon, who can put Left policies into plain English?
For viewers in England, this Sturgeon sermon is standard example of Scottish Left moral superiority complex.
"We're not going to Westminster to bring governments down," says Nicola Sturgeon. Unless it's a Tory one of course.
There is no question that Nicola sturgeon is a class act...never rises to the bait ... Dave and ed will be watching with some fear ...
Very impressive SNP manifesto launch but I can't see its former leader here... Where are you Alex Salmond? #snplaunch
watching sturgeon and my telly's just joined the snp.
One of the smartest political moves Salmond ever made was to pass on the leadership to Sturgeon after the #indyref.
What you're seeing at the #SNP manifesto launch is what might be called policy arbitrage. It takes two forms ... [1/2]
#SNP taking adv of 1. gap between UK and Scottish Labour. 2. gap between spending in Scotland now and if it were to be fiscally autonomous.
Continuing the theme, here's a word cloud of @NicolaSturgeon's speech launching #SNPManifesto #GE2015 pic.twitter.com/YNJwyi8KQg
Congratulations to @NicolaSturgeon for doing a proper news conference (and calling the great @Alan_Cochrane ) - we haven't had many of those
An SNP-Labour alliance would be a “match made in hell” for the UK economy, David Cameron has warned, as he stepped up his campaign to convince the electorate of the dangers of minority Labour government dependent on SNP support.
Nicola Sturgeon’s Q&A is now over. It lasted for around 40 minutes, making it longer than any of the Q&A sessions after the other manifesto launches.
I will post a summary, and a round-up of reaction, shortly.
Q: The manifesto talks about full financial responsibility. In the past you said you wanted full fiscal autonomy. Is there any difference?
No, says Sturgeon. She is just using that term to make it clear Scotland would have responsibility for its own affairs.
Q: [From the Telegraph’s Alan Cochrane] There is a lot of talk about negotiations. Are you going to base yourself in London for the talks. I’ll put you up for membership of the Caledonian Club. Or will you do it from 400 miles away.
Sturgeon says she is leader of the SNP. She will be in charge of discussions.
Q: Would you like to see SNP MPs in the Scotland Office?
Sturgeon says she does not want a formal pact. Labour does not want that either. So she does not expect to see SNP MPs serving as ministers.
Q: Was Stewart Hosie correct to say on 28 March that the SNP would expect to be consulted on a Labour Queen’s Speech?
Sturgeon says she is not leading the SNP to obstruct, or block or bring down. She wants the SNP to be a constructive force.
Q: A bookmaker offered me good odds on a second referendum within five years. Should I take the bet?
Q: Will you insist on Scotland’s fishing minister taking the lead in EU talks on behalf of the UK?
Sturgeon says this is something the SNP has argued for for a long time.
Q: Do think the rest of the UK wants a more leftwing government than the one Ed Miliband offers?
Q: Would you urge people in England to vote Labour?
Sturgeon says she is not telling people in England how to vote. All she would say is that they should vote for the most progressive candidate?
.@NicolaSturgeon steps back from urging English voters back Greens & Welsh Plaid Cymru: vote for Labour candidate if s/he most progressive
Q: David Cameron is setting out what he calls “the Carlisle principle”. (See 11.28am.) What is your reaction to that?
Sturgeon says they are borne out of desperation and panic. They will be seen as an attempt to undermine the Edinburgh parliament. And it is a bit rich for a government that has racked up billions of pounds of debt to criticise a government that has always balanced the books.
Q: If Ed Miliband made his budget an issue of confidence in him, would you support that budget?
Q: If a minority government does not do what you want it to do, will you vote it out of power? Or will you just torture it for five years?
Sturgeon says she will do neither of those things.
Q: Why do you think the English are scared of you?
I don’t think they are, she says.
.@alextomo asks @NicolaSturgeon "why do you think the English are scared of you?" Answer: "I don't" "we will play a constructive role"
Q: You have had eight years in government to raise tax, but you have not done so. Can you name a single redistributive policy you have implemented in Scotland?
Sturgeon says she does not have those powers. All she can do is raise or lower the basic rate of income tax by 3p. People on the basic rate are not those with the “broadest shoulders”.
Q: Full fiscal responsibility is on the second last page of the manifesto. Will you give us full costings?
Sturgeon says even if the SNP reach an agreement on this, it would take several years for this to be implemented. It is therefore “irrelevant” to use figures from one particular year to argue that it would not work.
Q: David Cameron says it would be frightening for the SNP to have influence on the government of the UK. Could independence come about through the back door of English disquiet, not from the front door of SNP demands?
Sturgeon says she has been told that Cameron would not sit on the sofa with her at the end of the Andrew Marr show yesterday.
Q: Are you now encouraging other parts of the UK to seek independence?
No, says Sturgeon.
Nicola Sturgeon is now takin
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