Murphy brands SNP message "ridiculous"

The claim that a vote for the SNP would not block Labour from power and lead to a Tory Government has been branded “ridiculous” by the Scottish Labour leader.

Speaking alongside former Prime Minister Gordon Brown as the pair set out plans for further devolution of power to Holyrood should Labour win the general election in May, Jim Murphy sought to frame Labour as the only party capable of dislodging the Conservatives.

The Scottish Labour leader was asked how party members should respond to comments from the SNP, suggesting the party would consider a confidence supply arrangement with Labour to keep the Conservatives from Downing Street.

He said: “What a ridiculous analogy the SNP have – ‘vote SNP to get a Labour Government’. ‘Vote against the Labour party to get a Labour Government’, I mean it’s not that hard to parody. What we are announcing today is a dramatic shift in power and real flexibility for Scotland. At the last general election, they said, ‘let’s do what’s best for Scotland, let’s get a Scotsman out of Downing Street, in fact let’s get two Scots out of Downing Street.’ I mean, what sort of party that puts Scotland first would want to achieve that?

“So I think part of the message is this – we know that a lot of people are tempted to vote SNP, they are tempted to vote for the Green Party, inexplicably some people are tempted to vote for the Scottish Lib Dems, though as a protest against the Tories that is even more ridiculous than the vote SNP to get Labour thing. But we say to people, we know you want change, so do we, we know you are passionate about the future of the country, and so are we, but my answer is that the unintended consequence is that you vote for the SNP and you get David Cameron back in power.”

The manifesto pledge announced by Murphy would give Holyrood new powers over welfare and allow it to block policies like the so-called bedroom tax. Murphy said that further devolution would stop the SNP from playing the ‘blame game’ over Scotland’s problems. 

“We have announced a radical, five point Labour plan. It is Labour to its core and progressive in its entirety, which trumps in anyway whatsoever the redistribution which the SNP has alluded to, which is a cut in corporation tax to below anything which is happening across the United Kingdom. We want to cut youth unemployment, they want to cut corporation tax – that is your choice at this election.”