Labour’s shadow chancellor has warned a vote for the SNP will pave the way for a second referendum.
Ed Balls said the only reason the nationalists want to get MPs in Westminster is not to end austerity as they claim, but to push for independence.
During a visit to Glasgow, he made a last ditch plea to undecided voters urging them to “think hard” about how they cast their ballot on May 7.
It followed a poll showing almost 30% of voters still had to make up their minds, while support for the SNP continues to grow.
Mr Balls highlighted the results of last week’s two analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies that concluded SNP calls for full fiscal autonomy would create a £9.7billion gap in Scottish public finances by the end of the decade and its spending commitments will result in shallower but longer austerity.
He said: “The SNP cannot hide from the facts any longer. The SNP plans would mean longer austerity, bigger cuts, more debt and less money for public services than Labour’s plans. It is not fiscal autonomy but extended fiscal austerity if the SNP get their way in the next parliament.”
Mr Balls added: “The SNP’s priority has never been about ending austerity. SNP MPs aren’t trying to go to Westminster to fight poverty, they want to go to Westminster to fight for another referendum.
“That is why we do face two roads and we’re going to decide in the next 10 days which road to take – Labour’s road, a better plan, a road to an economy which works for working people, or a road to another referendum. That’s the choice.”
The audience heard the reason Labour had consistently rejected any deals with the SNP was because not only did the Nationalists not support their manifesto but also wanted something “fundamentally different”.
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, who joined Mr Balls in Glasgow, said the SNP “plan to use this general election to stoke up discontent and division so they can push for a second referendum”.
“It is the nationalists’ clear intention to pursue a second referendum sooner rather than later if they are given the opportunity,” he said.
“They would consign Scotland to years of deepening division while the needs and priorities of working-class Scots are set aside for another day, another year or indeed another generation.”