Ukip leader gives strong signal that he wants to prop up a Conservative government in exchange for vote on EU and higher defence spending

The Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, has declared that he will try to work with David Cameron if possible to block a Labour government supported by the Scottish National party. These are Farage’s strongest comments yet signalling that he wants to prop up a Conservative administration in exchange for an immediate vote on the EU and higher defence spending.

With just 23 days to go before voters go to the polls, the minor parties are now being more explicit about which others they might work with and what their conditions might be.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Liberal Democrats said they would not sign up to any deal with the Tories if it included plans by the chancellor, George Osborne, to cut welfare by £12bn. Clegg also warned the UK faced a stark choice between “a coalition of grievance” involving the SNP or Ukip, or the politics of conscience and stability with the Liberal Democrats.

While Farage is now openly flirting with the prospect of offering some support for Cameron, the SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, has already made clear she would do the same for a Labour government.

Amid all the jostling for position, former civil service chief Gus O’Donnell warned of the difficulty of the negotiations that are likely to follow the election. He said the 2010 election may be seen as a “piece of cake” compared with the complexity this time around.

Speaking after his manifesto launch, Farage said a Labour-SNP government would “not be a very good thing for the country”. Asked if he and Cameron could “lock out Miliband and Salmond” from Downing Street, he replied: “Well, if that were possible, then we would try and do that.”

Nigel Farage promises £18bn of tax cuts as he launches Ukip manifesto Read more

The Ukip leader said Cameron would also not be good for the country if governing alone but, when asked if he is happy to work with him personally, said: “Needs must in life.” Farage also effectively ruled out ever teaming up with Labour against the Tories, saying Miliband’s stance on the EU rendered that pretty much impossible.

As well as demanding an EU referendum, Farage hinted that higher defence spending would also be a “red line”. “I think i have made defence pretty clear. I think defence is pretty important,” he said.

Ukip is unlikely to get more than a handful of seats at the election, but any number could be helpful to the Conservatives as they seek to reach the 326 necessary to win a majority. However, the Liberal Democrats – the most likely potential coalition partner for the Tories – have said they will have no part in any deal with Ukip.

As Nick Clegg launched his party’s document – with a pledge to act as the heart of Tory-led government or the head of a Labour-led one – the party’s policy chief said it would be impossible to sign up to Osborne’s welfare cuts. David Laws, the Lib Dem education minister who chaired the group that drew up the manifesto, said: “It is impossible to see how we would want to sign up to that. We have identified some welfare savings but we are not prepared to go down the Tory route.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nick Clegg launches the Lib Dem 2015 manifesto. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

The remarks by Laws were the clearest indication to date of how the Lib Dems would approach coalition negotiations with the Tories. The Lib Dems say they have no preference between Labour and the Tories, though Laws said that many people would worry that Labour cares about people but has little credibility on managing the public finances.

In a sign of the depth of Lib Dem thinking about coalition negotiations, Laws’s rejection of Osborne’s welfare cuts contrasted with less clear-cut language about the Tory demands for a referendum on Britain’s EU membership. This suggests that the Lib Dems may be able to give ground on the referendum if the Conservatives row back on their welfare cuts.

Asked whether the Lib Dems would seek to block an EU referendum on Cameron’s timetable, Laws said: “Voters are entitled to know what are the things that are really really important to them, that they they would expect to vote for that party to deliver. But it is not sensible or possible for us to go through every other party’s manifesto and pick off every single policy and tell you what our position is when we don’t know the outcome of the election.”

Laws spoke out after Clegg set out five deal-breakers in any future coalition talks as he launched the Lib Dem manifesto in Battersea, south London. Avoiding the phrase “red lines”, he nevertheless said the five pledges on the front page of the party’s manifesto are their “top priorities”. Clegg added: “These are the things we will fight tooth and nail for in the next parliament. And make no mistake, this is a programme for government, not opposition.”

The five top priorities are: