Shropshire Star

Poll: Do you welcome the influence of the SNP on English and Welsh politics?

Sir John Major has predicted "mayhem" if the General Election results in a Labour government propped up by Scottish nationalists. What do you think?

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SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon branded his comments "an affront to democracy" and Ed Miliband accused Conservatives of "threatening the integrity of the United Kingdom".

The former prime minister's intervention came as Conservatives stepped up warnings over the potential outcome of the May 7 election, which opinion polls suggest will deliver the Scottish National Party as many as 50 seats and the balance of power in the House of Commons.

Sir John said Mr Miliband's only route to 10 Downing Street involved a pact - whether in coalition or informal and unacknowledged partnership - with the SNP, who he warned would subject the Labour leader to "a daily dose of political blackmail" pushing him "slowly but surely ... further to the left".

The SNP would use the position to demand policies favouring Scotland at the expense of the rest of Britain, driving a wedge between the nations of the UK with the hope of winning the 2016 election to the Scottish Parliament and paving the way for a second independence referendum, said the ex-PM.

Mr Miliband said Labour would not strike an "agreement" with the Scottish National Party following the election, as he declared himself a unionist and accused David Cameron and the Tories of stirring up English "hatred" of the Scots.

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