Election 2015: Miliband says Tories ‘using SNP to distract voters’

Ed Miliband has accused the Tories of using the SNP to distract voters from their record as he tries to kill off talk of post-election deals.

The Labour leader said the election was “not a clash of two nations but a clash of two visions”.

His party has been attacked by the Tories over potential alliances with the SNP in a hung parliament.

The Conservatives said it was a legitimate argument because Labour “can’t get a majority without the SNP”.

Labour has ruled out any coalition with the SNP, and Mr Miliband said on Thursday he would not lead a government if it involved any deal with Nicola Sturgeon’s party.

BBC political correspondent Eleanor Garnier said Mr Miliband was attempting to “redefine the election debate”.

The Labour leader also told the Guardian that 10 of his manifesto proposals would be introduced as bills by the end of May if he formed a government.

These include a “strong economic foundation bill” aimed at reducing the deficit, introducing a mansion tax and tobacco levy to fund the NHS; freezing energy prices until 2017; banning recruitment agencies from hiring only from overseas, and cutting university tuition fees in England to £6,000.

In other election news:

• Prime Minister David Cameron is due to outline the Conservatives’ manifesto for pensioners
• Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg will set out plans for a new taskforce aimed at tackling youth unemployment aimed at helping 100,000 young adults
• Labour and Plaid Cymru have clashed on whether the two parties could work together if the election results in a hung parliament in a BBC Wales’ televised leaders debate

‘Tortured trade-off’

On Friday, Mr Miliband urged voters in Scotland not to “gamble” with the SNP but the Conservatives insisted the SNP would be “the monkey on Labour’s back”.

In a speech later, Mr Miliband will say: “What this election really comes down to is not a clash of two nations but a clash of two visions.

“Two different plans ideas about how our country succeeds.”

He will say the Conservatives offer “huge tax cuts” for the “rich and powerful”, whereas Labour thinks “Britain succeeds when working people succeed”.

Mr Cameron is due to highlight his party’s commitment to the “triple lock” on state pensions, which means they rise by whichever is higher out of inflation, average wages, or 2.5%.

He will say the triple lock – which Labour says it is also committed to – would take the annual pension to £7,000 a year by 2020.

The prime minister will also outline other previously announced Tory proposals including the protection of benefits such as free bus passes and TV licences, and giving people more freedom to invest and spend their pensions.

He will suggest a Labour government “would mean a return to higher taxes, spending and borrowing and pensioners would be particularly vulnerable because many of them do not have the option of increasing their incomes”.

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Policy guide: Where the parties stand