LABOUR leaders would be "fools" to snub an offer to share power with nationalists in the event of a hung parliament after the 2015 General Election, the SNP's deputy leader has warned.
Stewart Hosie said it would be folly for Ed Miliband and his shadow cabinet to walk away from a power-sharing deal after May's vote because of Labour's tribal hostility to the SNP.
However, in return for support for Labour, the SNP would want an end to austerity, no new generation of nuclear weapons and more powers for Scotland, going beyond those planned for by the Smith Commission.
In the wake of the 2010 General Election, Alex Salmond's attempt to assemble a multi-party coalition to keep Labour in power came to nothing after Labour ministers dismissed it.
Despite the SNP demonising Labour throughout the referendum, Hosie said it would be "absolutely daft" for the SNP to rule out an arrangement with the party and claimed a deal would not affect the dynamics of the 2016 Scottish election "one jot", even though Labour and the SNP would be locked in a bitter fight for votes north of the Border.
The Dundee East MP told the Sunday Herald: "In 2010, when we went to London [after the election], we were ready, willing, able and prepared to negotiate. The call didn't come; Labour had decided that they wanted to be in opposition.
"They wanted to let a Tory-led Government rule the roost. There was nothing we could do about that. The dynamics of this may be different if we win a substantial number of seats.
"I suspect that people would be wanting to speak. How can I put this gently? If there's a very real possibility of a non-Tory led Government, I think the Labour Party would be fools to turn down that opportunity."
Privately, senior Nationalists have little regard for Miliband and believe Labour remains "extremely tribal" and hostile to the SNP.
However, political necessity - and the fear of a second Tory term - may yet deliver a Nat-Lab pact, either a formal coalition or a looser form of support known as confidence and supply.
Hosie said any negotiations would depend on the exact parliamentary arithmetic, but the SNP already had an early list of demands, with more powers for Holyrood beyond those planned by the Smith Commission being absolutely essential.
He said: "In order to secure our help, we want to see an end to austerity.
"We couldn't countenance a new generation of nuclear weapons - it's £100 billion we don't have.
"We're also saying we want substantial new powers for Scotland - that's the key thing - powers that go beyond Smith, where the powers were modest: a bit of income tax and a couple of small things here and there really isn't devo max or a federal solution.
"But all of this turns on parliamentary arithmetic and my first focus is winning seats."
Asked how people would react to the SNP working with Labour after the SNP repeatedly criticised them in the referendum, he said: "This is about delivering more powers for Scotland, not propping up Labour."
Referring to the SNP withdrawing its support for Jim Callaghan's Labour government, a Labour spokesman said: "People would be fools to believe the deputy leader of a party whose 11 MPs in 1979 voted to let Margaret Thatcher in."
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