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Major Warns SNP 'Real And Present Danger' To UK

A minority Labour government propped up by SNP votes would be a "recipe for mayhem", Sir John Major has warned.

The former Tory Prime Minister claimed a Labour-SNP administration would lead to "weak and unstable" government and would ruin Britain's economic recovery.

Speaking in Solihull, Sir John said a Labour government, led by Ed Miliband, will be subjected to a "daily dose of blackmail" by the nationalists who could bring him down whenever they wanted.

"If Labour were to accept an offer of support from the SNP, it could put the country on course to a government held to ransom on a vote-by-vote basis," he said.

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"Labour would be in hock to a party that - slowly but surely - will push them ever further to the left. And who would pay the price for this? We all would.

"We would all pay for the SNP's ransom in our daily lives - through higher taxes, fewer jobs, and more and more debt.

"This is a recipe for mayhem. At the very moment our country needs a strong and stable government, we risk a weak and unstable one - pushed to the left by its allies, and open to a daily dose of political blackmail."

Warning the SNP represented a "real and present danger" to the UK, he said the party would seek to "drive a wedge" between the nations.

Sir John added: "They will ask for the impossible and create merry hell if it is denied."

Mr Miliband has insisted he would not be dictated to by the nationalists, even if he had to govern without an overall majority in the new parliament, highlighting "fundamental differences".

He has accused David Cameron of "talking up" the SNP to undermine the Labour vote in Scotland.

Mr Miliband said; "The reality is that he now believes his only route to success and getting back into power is the success of the Scottish Nationalist Party.

"He's demeaning his office and demeaning himself. Frankly, I think it's threatening the integrity of the UK."

And he argued there were Conservatives who felt "deeply queasy" about the PM's tactic.

Conservative former cabinet minister Lord Forsyth has warned the party's tactic of targeting a Labour-SNP link-up was "short-term and dangerous" and could ultimately damage the Union.

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said Sir John's comments were an "affront to democracy".

She told Sky News: "They are a sign of growing desperation of a Tory party that is facing up to the fact it may well lose this election.

"More seriously the comments are a bit of an affront to democracy.

"Last year, these politicians were urging people in Scotland to not leave the UK, but now it turns out that they only meant that if people vote how they want us to vote.

"People in Scotland are entitled to make their voice heard in whatever way they democratically choose to do so, and if people in Scotland choose to put their trust in the SNP to make their voice heard at Westminster, we will do that positively and constructively."

Ms Sturgeon launched her party's election manifesto on Monday pledging an end to austerity and offering "a hand of friendship" to people across the UK.

But a question mark has been cast over SNP plans to move to "full fiscal responsibility", where Scotland would fund its spending through its own tax revenues and borrowing.

The gradual transition would not tackle the "fiscal gap", with projections it would actually grow rather than shrink, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

David Phillips, of the IFS, said: "It would remain the case that full fiscal responsibility would likely entail substantial spending cuts or tax rises in Scotland.

"While a big and sustained rebound in oil revenues or significantly higher growth in Scotland could mitigate this, there can be no presumption that either would occur."