Nicola Sturgeon has said Scottish National party MPs would “look to be part of a progressive alliance” at Westminster if the general election resulted in a hung parliament.



While the Scottish first minister and SNP leader said she did not think the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was “credible as an alternative prime minister”, she said her party would work with others to implement “progressive policies”.

The Scottish government Sturgeon leads has already introduced a number of policies contained in Labour’s manifesto, including axing tuition fees for students and abolishing parking fees in hospitals.

She told Andrew Neil on BBC1 that SNP MPs would “work for progressive policies”.

She said: “If there was to be a hung parliament of course we would look to be part of a progressive alliance that pursued progressive policies.

“But let’s get back to the reality of this election. The reality of this election, even with a narrowing of the polls, is that we’re going to face a Tory government perhaps with a bigger majority. So my priority in this election is to say to people in Scotland: if you want Scotland’s interest to be protected and our voice heard, then you’ve got to vote SNP to make sure that’s the case.

“Voting Tory deliveries Tory MPs who’ll rubber stamp Theresa May and voting Labour in Scotland risks letting the Tories in.”

When asked if she would prefer May or Corbyn in Downing Street, Sturgeon said: “I don’t want a Tory prime minister. I don’t want to see a Tory government.”

In the run-up to the 2015 general election, the Tories sought to raise fears in England about the impact a possible coalition between Labour and the SNP could have.

The Conservative party chairman, Patrick McLoughlin, said on Sunday that a deal between the SNP and Labour “would mean Jeremy Corbyn propped up by a weak and unstable coalition just days before the Brexit negotiations start – putting at risk the deal we need to get”.

He said: “Corbyn and the rest would put up taxes, weaken our defences and increase immigration. And we know he would give in to Sturgeon’s demand for another independence referendum because he’s absolutely fine with that. In the days of shock election results, Jeremy Corbyn could become PM – and the polls are tightening.”

Sturgeon said that “even with the narrowing of the polls, I still think it is highly likely the Tories are going to win this election” – adding that “what matters for Scotland is we’ve got the strongest possible voice. We know the damage Tory governments do to Scotland.”

She said that the vote on 8 June would “not decide whether or not Scotland becomes independent” but argued that if her party won a majority of seats in Scotland it would strengthen the case for a second referendum.

“We’ve got that mandate already,” she said, adding that victory would “underline and reinforce that mandate”.

The SNP manifesto for the 2016 Scottish parliament elections made clear the party would seek to hold another vote on taking the country out of the UK if there was a “material change in circumstances” from the vote in 2014 – with the manifesto specifically citing the example of Scotland being removed from the European Union against its wishes.

With the first minister already having put forward proposals for a second referendum sometime between autumn 2018 and spring 2019, she said: “I want Scotland to have a choice not now but at the end of the Brexit process, when the options are clear.”

May has dismissed all calls for a referendum, with the Conservative party manifesto making clear such a vote should not happen without “public consent” and not until after the Brexit process has “played out”.

But Sturgeon suggested May could give way on this if put under pressure by the SNP.

She said: “I’m taking nothing for granted, but if the SNP win the election having won the Scottish election last year on the strength of a manifesto commitment that was very clear, and in the interim the Scottish parliament having backed that, I think that position of the prime minister is unsustainable.

“I think in politics positions quickly become unsustainable. We’ve seen in the last few days that this is not a prime minister who’s very good at holding positions when she feels under pressure. She is a prime minister who has seemed to perfect the art of the U-turn.”