NICOLA Sturgeon's SNP will not be serious players in any post General Election negotiations because of their "strategic ineptitude" by ruling out any deal with the Conservatives, Alistair Carmichael has claimed.

 

The Scottish Secretary also admonished Lord Steel, the former Liberal Party leader, for suggesting there would be "no mood" within the Liberal Democrats for a second coalition.

He explained that he would never go into an election telling voters "vote for me and under no circumstances will I ever be in government".

Looking back over five years of the Lib-Con Coalition, Mr Carmichael insisted that what kept the two parties together was a determination to reduce the deficit. But he admitted the biggest wobble came in December 2011 when David Cameron used the UK veto in Brussels to block a new EU-wide treaty; while the Prime Minister believed it was pro-British to do so, his deputy Nick Clegg regarded it as anti-European.

"It wasn't the case people were running around saying: 'Oh my God it's dreadful, the government's going to fall.' But, privately, I was really worried at that point...," admitted the frontbencher.

He put the surge in Nationalist support down to the First Minister and her colleagues peddling "easy, very populist answers", highlighting her proposal for £180bn of extra spending in the next UK Parliament.

"It's bizarre. £180bn. Essentially, she wants to go back to the model that crashed in 2008...The weakness of the SNP position will become more and more apparent the closer you get to polling day; the closer the focus gets on the economy."

Mr Carmichael also denounced Nationalist "hubris" and accused the SNP of stupidity in ruling out of hand any deal with the Tories.

"The strength of a small party in the Commons...relies on being able to go to one of the other two parties and say we will support you if you give us this, that or the other. That's an attractive proposition for a party to which the offer is made; if they think the consequence of not giving the small party what they want is that that small party will go and vote with the other side."

The ex-Chief Whip goes on: "Can you really believe, given what they have said, the SNP will vote with the Conservatives against a Labour minority Budget? They have thrown away their bargaining hand. That's strategically inept. For all they like to think they have put themselves in a strong position because of a spike in support, they have at one move removed themselves as serious players after the election."

In spite of polls that suggest the Liberal Democrats are facing meltdown on May 7, the Secretary of State insisted people have written off his party before, only to have had to eat their words afterwards. He accepted the party will "take a hit" but insists its tally of MPs - currently 56 with 11 in Scotland - will hold up well.

Mr Carmichael gave short shrift to one of his party's grandees, Lord Steel, the former party leader and Holyrood Presiding Officer, who two weeks ago said the Lib Dems, having gone through one coalition, were in "no mood" for another, and wanted to go into opposition to "recharge our values".

The Scottish Secretary, clearly annoyed, said: "We have been able to do more than any predecessor party has ever done. I'm proud of it, the party should be proud of it and David should be proud of it.

"I have to say over the years we have entered the political fray with messages which in retrospect might have been capable of refinement and improvement but I have never and I will never go to the electorate saying - vote for me and under no circumstances will I ever be in government. That I'm afraid is the logical conclusion(of Lord Steel's remarks)."

Mr Carmichael's full interview can be read in a free election supplement, only in Wednesday's Herald