SCOTTISH NATIONALISTS:A HUNG parliament at Westminster would provide Scotland with the "greatest opportunity", SNP leader Alex Salmond said today.
Scotland’s first minister said the prospect of no single party winning an overall Commons majority was now a “probability”.
He argued that, in those circumstances, the SNP, which has set a target of winning 20 seats in the May 6th election, could seek to extract gains for Scotland.
Mr Salmond spoke out at the launch of his party’s election manifesto in Glasgow yesterday.
It sets out a number of areas where nationalist MPs would seek to make gains – by, for example, pressing for Holyrood to have greater financial powers.
SNP leaders also want Scotland to be included in the first phase of any future high-speed rail line.
Mr Salmond said the travel chaos caused by the cloud of volcanic ash highlighted the need for this, stating: “As the events of recent days have shown, the Scottish economy cannot rely on domestic air travel alone.” He declared: “A vote for the SNP is a vote for maximising the influence for Scotland.” The party has also been arguing that more SNP MPs could help protect Scotland from the brunt of future spending cuts.
However, Labour Holyrood leader Iain Gray said: “Alex Salmond’s only argument is fundamentally weak. His claim that ‘more Nats means less cuts’ doesn’t convince people. A pollfrom the weekend showed that less than a quarter of Scots believe the claim. The truth is that more Nats mean Tory cuts.”
He added: “There are two massive credibility gaps in this manifesto – no mention of their economic policy and complete silence on who they want to be prime minister in two weeks’ time.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Tavish Scott branded the SNP manifesto launch “a true Alex in Wonderland performance”. He said: “Salmond says the deficit can be wished away and Scotland can be insulated from the economic reality. That is deeply dishonest and the Scottish people know it.”
Tory shadow Scottish secretary David Mundell also hit out at the nationalist manifesto, saying: “Where was the independence word? Where were the coherent economic plans to help Britain out of the recession?”
He added: “Alex Salmond is not taking this British general election seriously. He is not even standing and he is not coming up with the policies, ideas or vision for the future. All he is doing is playing fantasy politics about how an independent Scotland would be immune from the global recession. He is simply living in Scot-la-la-land.” – (PA)