Nicola Sturgeon unveiled a new political alliance yesterday as she moved to put scrapping Trident and ending austerity at the heart of the UK election campaign.
She travelled to London for her first face-to-face talks with Prime Minister David Cameron since becoming first minister, before joining forces with Plaid Cymru and the Green Party to attack the coalition and Labour.
Sitting side-by-side, the three female leaders of the parties said it would be “indefensible” for them to be excluded from TV election debates, that it would be “economic lunacy” to spend £100billion on new nuclear weapons, and that the Treasury’s programme of austerity must end.
Ms Sturgeon played down any suggestion that the three parties would form a formal alliance to negotiate with their rivals in the event of a hung parliament in May – but did say they could work together on key issues.
In the morning, the SNP leader held bilateral talks with Mr Cameron after attending a meeting of the Joint Ministerial Committee, which brings together UK ministers and leaders of the devolved administrations.
They discussed plans to give Holyrood powers to enable 16 and 17-year olds to vote in the next elections to the Scottish Parliament, as they did in September’s independence referendum.
Speaking afterwards, Ms Sturgeon said: “David Cameron and I are worlds apart in terms of political philosophy and outlook and our views on the constitution in Scotland, but yes, I think we can do business where we find common ground.”
She added: “We are very confident that we will get the devolutionary power to extend the franchise to 16 and 17-year-olds in time for that to happen for the 2016 election. We need to move quickly on that.”
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The PM made clear that he wants to work with the first minister, forging even stronger ties between our governments and our parliaments and working together on the big issues for the future of Scotland and the United Kingdom.”
In the afternoon, Ms Sturgeon held a press conference at Westminster with Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood and Natalie Bennett, leader of the Greens in England and Wales.
The first minister said: “I think we can unite very strongly to say that in a time of austerity, one of the last things, if not the last thing we should be doing, is taking a decision to spend £100billion on a new generation of nuclear weapons.”