SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon offers to help Labour’s Ed Miliband to become prime minister
Sturgeon offers to help Labour's Miliband be prime minister and doesn't rule out fresh ballot
The Scottish National Party leader has offered to help British Labour party leader Ed Miliband become prime minister, while raising the possibility of seeking another independence referendum after 2016.
In a lively debate between the leaders of the four main Scottish parties, the SNP's Nicola Sturgeon on Tuesday outlined her aim to help the centre-left Labour party into power to prevent Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron winning a second term at next month's election.
"Even if the Tories are the biggest party we will work with Labour to keep David Cameron out of Downing Street."
Labour and the Conservatives are deadlocked in polls ahead of the May 7 vote, eroded by the advance of smaller parties and with neither of Britain's long-dominant forces likely to win an outright majority.
Sturgeon's SNP may have a kingmaker role, as the party has surged in support since a referendum on Scottish independence in September and is predicted to win between 35 and 50 seats of Scotland's total of 59, compared to six in the last election.
The SNP has said in the past it could back a Labour minority government on a vote-by-vote basis, and the parties share some policies including opposing a referendum on European Union membership Cameron has promised by 2017 if re-elected.
The 44-year-old Sturgeon, who took over from former SNP leader Alex Salmond as head of the Scottish government in November, is not herself seeking a seat in the Westminster parliament but would be key to any negotiations.
Pressed on whether her party might seek another vote on splitting up the 300-year-old union with England in Scottish parliamentary elections in 2016, Sturgeon left the possibility open.
"Well, that is another matter. We will write that manifesto when we get there. I will fight one election at a time," she said.
Nevertheless the referendum transformed the Scottish political landscape, with SNP support surging at the expense of Labour, which had long relied on Scotland as a stronghold and will struggle to form a majority without it.
In the debate, Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy did not give a clear answer when pressed on whether Labour would work with the SNP, but insisted that his party did not need the nationalists' "help".
