ALEX Salmond has taken the entire Labour Party hostage and now has Ed Miliband as his poodle, David Cameron has claimed in a boisterous end to the Westminster parliamentary session.
After telling the left-wing New Statesman magazine that the SNP, if it held the balance of power in the Commons, would vote down a minority Tory government to clear the way for Labour to take power, the former First Minister has now made fresh claims.
He told the right-wing Spectator magazine that even if there were no deal with Labour, Nationalist MPs would still vote to keep Mr Miliband in Downing Street in order to "lock out" the Tories.
William Hague, the Commons Leader, claimed this scenario would mean a weak Labour government would be "at the mercy of Alex Salmond every single day", leading to Nationalist demands for higher taxes, more welfare spending, unfettered immigration and weak defences.
During a final rowdy Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Cameron took up the theme and rounded on the Labour leader following Mr Salmond's first magazine interview, which Tory HQ claimed was a clear attempt to "sabotage" British democracy.
"As far as I can see, Alex Salmond has taken the entire Labour Party hostage and today we have got the ransom note," declared the PM. "And the ransom note is very clear; it says higher borrowing, uncontrolled immigration, unfettered welfare, higher taxes and weaker defence.
"That's what is being demanded and the British people have only one way of saying no to this appalling hostage situation and that is to vote Conservative on May 7."
When a Labour backbencher sought to tease the PM about his gaffe on ruling out a third term in office before he had secured a second one, describing him as a lame-duck premier, Mr Cameron countered: "Never mind talk of ducks, I'm looking at Alex Salmond's poodle."
Later, Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, branded the PM's words "crass and tasteless".
"If a majority of MPs after the General Election - comprising members from all parts of the UK - do not want another Tory government, then the democratic position according to Westminster's own conventions is that there will not be a Tory government," explained the Moray MP.
"That is why more anti-Tory MPs than Tory MPs elected in May can exercise their democratic majority and lock David Cameron out of Downing Street five years before he wants to leave," he added.
In his second magazine interview - which again noted how Mr Salmond liked to drink pink champagne - the former SNP leader, who is seeking to become MP for Gordon, was asked if Nationalist MPs would always vote to keep Mr Cameron out of No 10. "Correct; we would lock him out of Downing Street," he replied.
Asked that even if there were no deal with Labour, SNP MPs would vote to keep Mr Miliband in power, Mr Salmond again replied: "Correct."
Despite the Labour leader's earlier insistence that the Nationalists would "never in a million years" get to write a Labour government's Budget, the former SNP leader stressed how the "Labour position would be capable of sensible progressive amendment with our progressive allies, of course, Plaid Cymru and the Greens".
In response to Mr Salmond's Spectator interview, Scottish Labour said the ex-SNP leader had now ruled out a confidence and supply deal with the UK Opposition, noting: "This is a case of the Emperor's New Clothes...The endless speculation about hypothetical arrangements is over; only Labour can end Tory austerity.
"The largest party forms the government and every seat taken from Labour by the SNP or any other party increases the chances of David Cameron's Tories clinging on to power."
It added: "The only way the people of Scotland can stop that happening is by voting Labour and supporting our progressive policies to introduce the 50p top rate of tax, the bankers' bonus tax and the mansion tax, then using the proceeds to pay for more nurses and to give our young people a more equal chance in life."
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