Sir Keir was adamant he would not work with the SNP, even if the July 4 election fails to result in an overall majority for Labour. His comments came as he campaigned in the Glasgow East constituency, one of the Scottish seats Labour will be hoping to win from the SNP come polling day. But asked if he could work with John Swinney’s party in the event of a hung parliament, Sir Keir made clear there would be “absolutely no deal with the SNP”.
He said there would “obviously” be no deal in advance of the election but added there would be “no deal the other side of the election, under any circumstances”. The Labour leader added: “That’s not just a question of mathematics, that is because there is no way an incoming Labour government could ever work in any way with the SNP, whose only ambition is to break up the United Kingdom.” His comments came as Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar told journalists the party was hoping to have a “significant cohort” of MPs from north of the border after July 4.
In the last general election in 2019 Labour won just one constituency in Scotland, though recently polls have shown support for the party rising, in some cases putting support for Sir Keir’s party ahead of the SNP. Sarwar, asked how many seats in Scotland the party could win this time, said: “I’ve got an old-fashioned view, which is the more people you persuade to vote for you the more seats you win.” While he said Labour had “come a long way” in doing t.