Boris Johnson claimed yesterday that the prospect of a Labour-SNP power-sharing deal was “chilling the blood of sensible people across the UK”.
The London mayor, who is bidding to return to Westminster as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, warned of the prospect of an alliance to put Ed Miliband in 10 Downing Street.
The Tories have repeatedly highlighted such a deal in the hope it will put voters in England off backing Labour.
However, polls have shown that the option would be popular north of the border.
In a newspaper article yesterday, Mr Johnson said: “It is now becoming ever clearer that the only way Labour can govern this country is with the support of the Scottish National Party – and that is a prospect that is chilling the blood of sensible people across the UK.”
He added that Gordon candidate Alex Salmond would “run rings round Miliband”, and that it was “all too easy to see how the Scottish tail would wag the English dog” if there was a deal between the parties.
The outspoken politician, who is tipped as a potential successor to Prime Minister David Cameron, predicted that the Nationalists would “spend their time in government in a constant effort to tease, bait, goad and generally wind up the English until the patience snaps”.
He concluded that Labour and the SNP were “locked in a deadly embrace, and the risk is that they will take the rest of us down with them”.