Alex Salmond increases pressure on Ed Miliband over SNP deal

Alex Salmond steps up the pressure on Ed Miliband, warning the Labour leader he will find it difficult to avoid doing some form of deal with the SNP in the event of another hung parliament.

Mr Salmond, who is bidding to return to Westminster, said all parties would have to face up to the “electorate’s judgment” after polling day on 7 May.

He said Mr Miliband had been “foolish” to rule out a coalition with the SNP – even though it was not really on the cards – and suggested that he reacted because he was “under pressure from the Conservative press”.

If the election resulted in a hung parliament with neither of the main parties able to form a majority government, Mr Salmond predicted the “most likely” outcome was an agreement by the SNP to support Labour on a vote-by-vote basis.

“I think that after the election every Westminster politician will have to come and face the reality of the electorate’s judgment,” he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.