The choice this election gets clearer by the day
05-03-2015
Telegraph View: Labour's flip-floppping over deals with the SNP give us a taste of the constitutional and economic chaos to come
Labour leader Ed Miliband takes part in a special BBC Question Time programme Photo: PA
By Telegraph View
Ed Miliband appears to be deluded. During this week’s Question Time confrontation between party leaders and the straight-talking people of Yorkshire, the Labour leader was asked if he would ever do a deal with the SNP. The answer was no: “I am not going to have a Labour government if it means deals or coalitions with the Scottish National Party.” The audience was incredulous, and for good reason. The promise was absurd. Within 24 hours, it had crumbled to dust.
The polls are tight and Labour is facing electoral wipe-out in Scotland. Whatever the results next Thursday, it is likely that Mr Miliband’s only chance of entering Number 10 will be with the support of the SNP. This is a prediction shared by the Nationalists. Nicola Sturgeon says that she expects to be part of a grand “anti-Tory” coalition whereby, “[the SNP is] supporting a Labour minority government on an issue-by-issue basis”.
Within hours of Mr Miliband apparently ruling such a deal out, he and his front bench appeared to row back from that “resolute” position. The Labour leader said that it was indeed up to the House of Commons to decide how it wants to vote on a future Queen’s Speech, while Andy Burnham, Hilary Benn and Caroline Flint all conceded that Labour whips might well talk to SNP whips about items of legislation.
The voters are not fools. They know that any such negotiations between Labour and the SNP will amount to a deal and will involve compromise. Again, this is not mere guesswork: the SNP has said that it expects exactly that to happen. Leaked Nationalist documents seen by The Daily Telegraph indicate that the party intends to prop up Labour in government as part of an effort to move Britain to the far Left.
Be in no doubt that the SNP will fight tooth and claw to get what it wants. Our profile of Ms Sturgeon reveals a determined lady reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher. She even received voice coaching from Sean Connery to improve her performance. Her ideology, however, is far from Thatcherite: Ms Sturgeon is said to believe that Labour lost its way when it replaced Michael Foot with Neil Kinnock. Her socialism is reflected in the SNP’s list of post-election demands: no austerity, greater spending, more powers for Holyrood and the abolition of the Trident nuclear deterrent. Yes, even Britain’s national defence is on the table. Of course, the ultimate goal of the SNP is not just to turn Britain to the Left but to extract Scotland from the Union. This week, Jim Sillars, former deputy leader of the SNP, said that his party would push for another independence referendum as early as 2016.
Nicola Sturgeon has attacked Ed Miliband (Alamy)
It is clear that Labour will have to work with the SNP post-election and that the consequences could be enormous. How, then, could Mr Miliband assert the obvious untruth that he won’t work with Ms Sturgeon – and with a straight face? It is possible that he has a talent for economising with the actualité. But it could also be that he is genuinely deluded.
Consider his attempts during the Question Time encounter to assert that Labour did not overspend when it was last in government. The idea was ridiculous. David Cameron had, in his own section of the programme, produced the infamous letter by Liam Byrne that warned his successor at the Treasury that there was no money left. So Mr Miliband was confronted with physical evidence that Labour did indeed overspend – yet he still denied it. At times, Mr Miliband is a veritable Walter Mitty.
Whatever Mr Miliband’s schemes or fantasies might be, the choice between Labour and the Conservatives becomes clearer by the day. Mr Miliband is gambling on a minority administration that will rely upon votes from the Nationalists to survive, which could well lead to a mix of constitutional chaos and reckless spending. Mr Cameron, by contrast, wishes to form a government that will stick to a rational economic programme and hold the country together through what could be a rough period. Within a week, we shall know what the British people want. Judging by the responses of that Yorkshire audience, Mr Cameron’s message is cutting through.