NICOLA Sturgeon has said SNP MPs could potentially deny Theresa May and the “arrogant” Tories a majority in Thursday’s General Election.
The First Minister said another five years of Conservative government was “not palatable” and insisted the only way Scots could stop this was by voting for her party.
She described the election, which May called in a bid to increase the Tory majority at Westminster, as an “opportunity to make positive statement about the kind of country we want Scotland to be”.
With the campaign now in its final few days, and with polls across the UK showing Labour closing the gap on the Conservatives, Sturgeon said that if the SNP enjoyed success on a similar scale to the 2015 election, it could help prevent another Tory administration.
In the last election the SNP won 56 of the 59 seats in Scotland, with Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Tories taking just one seat each.
Campaigning in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire, the First Minister said: “There is a possibility as we see the polls narrow that we could deny Theresa May a majority, and certainly deny her a bigger majority, which is why she called this election.
“There’s no doubt with polls narrowing in the rest of the UK, whether or not Theresa May gets a majority – or a bigger majority – could come down to the outcome in Scotland.”
She stated: “Given the narrowing of the polls in the rest of the UK, there is now every chance that a vote for the SNP can deny the Tories the crushing victory that they so arrogantly predicted at the start of the campaign ... a Tory government with a larger majority would cut pensions, impose a dementia tax, hit family incomes and put a million more children into poverty.
“They will slash spending on our public services, fail to support our NHS and they will embark on a chaotic, extreme Brexit that will cost jobs and cut wages.”
The constituency in which Sturgeon was campaigning is being targeted by the Liberal Democrats, who are hopeful that former UK Government minister Jo Swinson can take the seat back from the SNP.
On a campaign visit to Edinburgh the Prime Minister pledged to “fight for Britain” in Brexit talks and resist SNP pressure for an independence referendum.
May described herself as a “passionate Unionist” as she raised the prospect of Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn in Number 10 with the First Minister “pulling the strings”.
Scottish Labour stepped up its attacks on the SNP by using an election broadcast to accuse Sturgeon of “playing a broken record” with demands for another independence referendum, and Kezia Dugdale insisted Labour was best-placed to beat the SNP “in the majority of seats across Scotland”.
Meanwhile, questions were being asked about Labour’s commitment to the Barnett Formula.
Carwyn Jones, the party’s First Minister in Wales, was asked about his manifesto committment to shake up Welsh assembly funding.
When asked if that meant Labour would scrap the Barnett formula, Jones told BBC Wales: “That’s what the manifesto says.” He added: “It says in the manifesto that there will be a new funding formula based on need. That means having a new formula to replace Barnett.”
Scottish Tory MSP Murdo Fraser said: “This is total chaos. The Scottish Labour manifesto is based on the Barnett formula operating. Under their plans, spending on policies from arts education to council funding in England is supposed to lead to an increase in the Scottish budget.”
He added: “Jeremy Corbyn needs to come clean – and quick. Will Labour keep the Barnett formula? If they will, why is Labour in Wales saying they won’t?”
A Labour spokesman said: "Our manifesto costings are based on the Barnett Formula and we will not scrap it. Over the course of the next parliament, we will consult on long-term reform of how the UK allocates public expenditure to ensure that it reflects the needs of the nations and regions of the UK."
Scottish Labour sources made clear the consultation would be looking at how to increase funding across the nations of the UK, and that there was no intention to see allocations reduced.
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