Cameron issues warning about Labour - SNP deal

David Cameron has warned of more borrowing and taxes if Ed Miliband does a deal with the Scottish National Party to become Prime Minister.

The Conservative leader said that Mr Miliband had failed to rule out a vote-by-vote deal with Nicola Sturgeon, following a TV debate in which the SNP leader repeatedly urged her Labour counterpart to join her in an anti-Tory alliance after the May 7 General Election.

Mr Miliband was judged the “winner” of the 90-minute showdown and viewers taking part in an instant poll favoured him as prime minister over Mr Cameron - who did not take part – by a margin of 45% to 40%.

The Labour leader concluded the BBC broadcast by issuing a direct on-air challenge to the PM to debate him head-to-head on TV before polling day.

The challenge was brushed off by the Conservatives who said the debate had shown that if Mr Miliband entered No 10 at the head of a minority Labour government it would be the SNP who would be “in the driving seat”.

And Mr Cameron said in a Twitter message to voters: “Ed Miliband won’t rule out a vote-by-vote deal with the SNP so he can be PM. It would mean more borrowing and more taxes and you would pay.”

The party leaders were returning to the campaign trail with Mr Miliband promising to end the ``scandal'' of long-term internships and Mr Cameron warning of the threat to the Conservative ``jobs miracle'' if Labour gained power.

Nick Clegg was heading to Gordon in Scotland where ex-SNP leader Alex Salmond is bidding to take the seat from the Liberal Democrats, with an appeal to Labour and Tory supporters to vote tactically to keep out the nationalists.

The debate saw Ms Sturgeon alternately attacking and wooing the Labour leader, as she urged him to take part in a progressive alliance which would make his policies bolder. But Mr Miliband resisted repeated attempts to draw him into agreement on an arrangement to work together in the event of a hung parliament.

Ms Sturgeon warned Mr Miliband he would not be forgiven if he refused to work with the SNP in a hung parliament to “lock David Cameron out of Downing Street”.

“We share a desire to see the back of the Tories but surely we do not want to replace the Tories with ’Tory-lite’ – we want to replace the Tories with something better,” she told him.

“Is it the case that you would rather see David Cameron go back in to Downing Street than work with the SNP? Surely that cannot be your position,” she said.

Mr Miliband retorted there was a “huge difference” between Tory cuts and Labour’s deficit reduction plans, adding: “I’ve fought the Tories all my life, unlike the SNP. You’ve fought Labour all your life, Nicola. I just don’t buy it.”

In a poll of 1,013 viewers conducted by Survation for the Daily Mirror, Mr Miliband came out on top in last night’s debate, with 35% judging him the winner, narrowly ahead of Nicola Sturgeon on 31%.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage was third on 27% followed by the Greens’ Natalie Bennett on 5% and Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood on 2%.

However Conservatives immediately claimed that the debate had exposed the extent to which a minority Labour government would be in thrall to the SNP.