Nicola Sturgeon admits she would prop up Jeremy Corbyn as PM by saying she’s open to forming ‘progressive alternative to the Tories’
Scottish First Minister said would work with other parties in a hung parliament – opening the door to chaotic Labour minority government
NICOLA Sturgeon has pledged to pull Jeremy Corbyn’s strings in a hung parliament as she insisted her Scots Nats MPs will have “a pivotal role to play”.
Senior Lib Dem Sir Vince Cable joined Scotland’s First Minister to also say his party would also be ready to prop up the hard left Labour leader.
The two smaller parties seized on the narrowing of the opinion polls yesterday to propel him to power if Theresa May falls short of a majority.
Labour has pledged to run a minority government instead of a formal coalition.
And Ms Sturgeon revealed yesterday she is ready to dictate terms to the Labour boss in return for help on passing his laws.
The SNP’s leader told Radio 4’s Today programme: “If there was to be a hung parliament, then I would want the SNP to be part of a progressive alternative to a Conservative government.
“Not in a coalition, I don’t envisage any formal coalitions, but on an issue-by-issue basis to put forward progressive policies and to see a progressive agenda”.
Ms Sturgeon added: “I’m sure there would be all sorts of talks”.
Pleading the Lib Dems’ help to pass Mr Corbyn’s new laws in the Commons, former Coalition government Business Secretary Mr Cable added: “We won’t go down the coalition route.
“We’d look at measure-by-measure, we’d look at it on its merits and actually that might provide better governments.”
An Ipsos-Mori poll for the Evening Standard yesterday claimed the Conservatives’ lead over Labour had shrank to just five points.
It the Tories on 45%, Labour 40%, Lib Dems 7% and UKIP 2%.
But the survey also revealed Mrs May retains a big 15 point lead over Mr Corbyn on who would be the best PM
MOST READ IN POLITICS
Senior Tories said the general election will be a story of two nations, with the country split down similar lines of the EU referendum.
A Tory minister told The Sun: “The further away from London you go, the better it gets for us”.
As Labour confidence continues to rise, shadow chancellor John McDonnell insisted he was “10 out of 10, we are going to win”.
Detailing Labour’s plan for government yesterday, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said: “In the event of a hung parliament we are clear that we would seek to govern as a minority Government.
“That would mean that the Lib Dems and the Greens would scrutinise every piece of legislation on its own merit”.
Tory Cabinet minister David Gauke said Ms Sturgeon and Sir Vince’s declaration “underlines the very real risk that Jeremy Corbyn could be Prime Minister next Friday”.
Mr Gauke added: “With the stakes so high, and with the Brexit negotiations starting just 11 days after the election, it is simply not worth taking the risk of waking up to Jeremy Corbyn and his coalition of chaos”.
It also emerged yesterday that Labour incumbent in the Tory-Labour marginal of Enfield North Joan Ryan has told her voters: “Realistically no one thinks Theresa May will not be Prime Minister”.
In an extraordinary letter to former Labour voters, Ms Ryan said that her door-stepping has made her realise that they “have more confidence in Theresa May as Prime Minister than they would have in Jeremy Corbyn”.
SNP deputy leader under threat as poll predicts Tory gains in Scotland
NICOLA Sturgeon's comments came as it was claimed that her deputy is on course to lose his Commons seat next week.
A new poll suggests that the SNP has fallen to 43 per cent in Scotland, with the Tories on 30 per cent and Labour on 18 per cent.
Those results imply that the Tories could seize seven of the SNP's seats, writes Hugo Gye.
Among the SNP figures who would be thrown out of Parliament is Angus Robertson, the deputy leader.
Mr Robertson leads the party's MPs in Westminster, and takes on Theresa May at Prime Minister's Questions every week.
The Conservatives, under the leadership of Ruth Davidson, are considered likely to surge in the Scottish Borders and the north-east of Scotland.
The SNP rubbished the latest poll results, published in The Herald, but added: "It shows that only a vote for the SNP can keep the Tories out."
A spokesman for Scottish Labour said: "Support for the SNP is on the slide thanks to the threat of a second independence referendum."