The SNP as threat and opportunity for Labour

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/apr/19/snp-as-threat-and-oppoprtunity-for-labour

Version 0 of 1.

The main purpose of the SNP is to bring about an independent Scotland. It thinks that it will be more likely to achieve this if we have a Tory government. And a large SNP vote is going to make it less likely that we have a Labour government and more likely that we have a Tory one. So the SNP and the Tories have a community of interest.

Would it be such a bad thing if the SNP nudged a Labour government a touch to the left?

However, neither can be seen to be supporting the other. The SNP has to say it prefers a Labour government because so many of the voters it wishes to vote for it would otherwise vote Labour and would not vote SNP if they thought the SNP was after a Tory government.

Cameron and Sturgeon are singing from the same hymn sheet.David A JacksonUlverston, Cumbria

• Nicola Sturgeon’s offer to Ed Miliband and his response (Miliband tells Sturgeon in final TV debate: I won’t do a deal with you, 17 April) are predictable. Neither should be taken at face value. Sturgeon needs to reassure SNP voters that they are not making a Conservative victory more likely: a vote for the SNP should be seen as a vote for an anti-Tory alliance. Miliband owes it to Scottish Labour not to treat the SNP as an ally or to suggest that an SNP vote in a Labour-held seat is somehow OK. For some reason this exchange set me in mind of the late Mandy Rice-Davies.David ButlerLondon

• The prevailing English idea that Scotland should remain part of the UK but that its dominant political party should have no influence in a UK government is illogical and contradictory. The biggest single issue dividing parties in this election is the extent of austerity policies cutting public spending and borrowing, and it is at UK level that the strategy will really be set. Moreover, the Barnett formula allocates money to Scotland on the basis of how much is spent in England – so Scots have a stake in whether the chancellor imposes cuts. Income tax may become more devolved, but any tax increases are more likely to involve rises in VAT or national insurance contributions, again imposed in London.

Now that the UK is under threat from the SNP, it makes sense to have a loose Con-Lab coalition

Would it be such a bad thing if the SNP nudged a Labour government a touch to the left? Nobody thought the Lib Dem tail was wagging the Tory dog when it did the same in the present coalition. Coalitions and governing pacts combine multiple viewpoints. Why should we be allergic to them including a party bringing the perspective of one particular part of the United Kingdom?Donald HirschGuildford, Surrey

• Benedict Birnberg (Letters, 17 April) appears to view the SNP through rose-tinted spectacles. The party relied on Tory support during its time as a minority government in Scotland and has only recently abandoned its proposal to cut corporation tax and its opposition to a 50% top income tax rate.Jeremy BeechamLabour, House of Lords

Related: Miliband tells Sturgeon in final TV debate: I won't do a deal with you

• When the UK was under pressure in the 20th century, the threat was met by a loose coalition between the two major parties. Now that the UK is under threat from the SNP, it makes sense to have a loose Con-Lab coalition.Dr John CameronSt Andrews, Fife

• All the Tories have to do to keep Ed Miliband making the wrong noises is to accuse him of doing the things that would get Labour into power – and he obligingly denies he would do them. How depressing.Amanda BakerEdinburgh

• If David Cameron is scared of what the SNP might force a Labour government to do, he has a very simple remedy. He can pledge that the Tories will refuse to support the SNP in parliament if it demands a second referendum, or any deal giving too much away to Scotland at the expense of everyone else. Cameron’s scaremongering about the SNP makes no sense, unless the Tories themselves intend to act irresponsibly.David AllenKinoulton, Nottingham

• Since the stated aim of the SNP is to break up the United Kingdom, it seems perverse that this party should have any role to play in the formation of a UK government. The German constitution protects the republic from radically anti-federal parties: “Parties that, by reason of their aims ... seek to undermine or abolish ... the existence of the Federal Republic shall be unconstitutional.” The same logic surely applies to the UK.Alan BanceEmeritus Professor of German Studies, University of Southampton

• If Kenneth Clarke is preoccupied with worry about the Tories being pushed to the right by Ukip (Report, 17 April), what degree of concern does he harbour about the effect of the SNP on Labour?Edward ThomasEastbourne, Sussex

• Follow the Guardian letters desk on Twitter: @guardianletters