Brown invites SNP to government talks

Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond has revealed that his party and Welsh Nationalists Plaid Cymru have accepted an offer from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to discuss possibilities for future government.

Britain has its first hung Parliament since 1974 after General Election results delivered a majority to no single party.

Speaking to the BBC, Salmond explicitly ruled out a deal with the Tories but added: “Fate seems to have dealt us a mighty hand between ourselves and Plaid Cymru.

“As I understand it, on the projection we have at the present moment, certainly there would have to be some involvement of the SNP and Plaid Cymru, if you were to get and construct an alternative government scenario.

“So for that reason, I’m accepting the offer of the Prime Minister, on behalf of the SNP, and Plaid Cymru are accepting, to have the Civil Service back-up to have discussions to see what the possibilities are in terms of defending the interests of Scotland and Wales in this parliamentary situation.”

Mr Salmond, who stood down as an MP at the election, remains an MSP and First Minister of Scotland in a minority SNP government.

Asked what he was looking for in discussions, he said: “I’ve been through this process in 2007 with Civil Service back-up to discuss from a different vantage point. That was in the formation that ended up in the formation of SNP minority in Scotland.

“I know exactly how you should go about this and it doesn’t involve showing too much of your hand before you have the discussions.”