Sturgeon pledges to vote for raft of Labour policies at Westminster as she launches SNP manifesto

The manifesto includes commitments on opposing austerity, scrapping the renewal of Trident and calling for an increase in public spending.

It states the SNP would back a number of the tax proposals contained in Labour's manifestoir states:"SNP will demand an end to austerity.

"We oppose further spending cuts and propose modest spending increases of 0.5% above inflation in each year of the next parliament."

The party states it would se an extra £140bn across the UK.

It continued: "We will also vote for the following revenue raising measures.

"The reintroduction of a 50p top tax rate. A tax on bankers bonuses a bank levy, a mansion tax a crackdown in tax avoidance and abolition of non dom status."

In full: Nicola Sturgeon's manifesto speech

Ms Sturgeon pledged that her party would not only fight to "make Scotland stronger" but would also use its influence to bring about "real and positive change" for ordinary people across the UK during the manifesto launch.

The Scottish First Minister said her party's representatives at Westminster would seek to "make common cause and build alliances with others of like mind" in an attempt to end austerity and herald a real change in politics.

Support for the SNP has been on the up, despite the vote against independence last year, with polls suggesting there could be a record number of Scottish nationalists at Westminster.

With the election apparently on track for another hung parliament, that could see Ms Sturgeon and her party holding the balance of power across the UK.

Today she told voters north of the border that backing her party on May 7 would make Scotland's "voice heard more loudly than it has ever been heard before at Westminster".

But she also had a message for voters in the rest of the UK, seeking to reassure them about the impact a large group of nationalist MPs could have.

The SNP leader said: "I also want to make a pledge today to people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

"Even though you can't vote SNP, your views do matter to me. And you have a right to know what to expect of my party if the votes of the Scottish people give us influence in a hung parliament.

"So my promise to you is this: If the SNP emerges from this election in a position of influence, we will exercise that influence responsibly and constructively.

"And we will exercise it in the interests of people, not just in Scotland, but across the UK."

Ms Sturgeon continued: "For as long as Scotland remains part of the Westminster system, we have a shared interest with you in making that system work better for all of us - for the many, not the few.

"We will not do any deals that would put the Tories into power - indeed, if there is an anti-Tory majority after May , we will vote to stop a new Tory government even getting off the ground.

"But we will then seek to use our influence to make a Labour government bolder and better.

"We will seek to make common cause and build alliances with others of like mind across the UK to deliver the progressive change that so many want to see."

She added: "To everyone who, like me, wants this election to herald the real and positive change that will make life better for ordinary people across these islands, I hold out a hand of friendship."

As Ms Sturgeon unveiled her party's manifesto, Prime Minister David Cameron warned that a Labour administration propped up by the SNP would be a "match made in hell for the British economy".

Mr Cameron claimed: "With Labour and the SNP, our economy will head into ruin again. And who will pay? You will pay - in higher taxes.''

But the First Minister said the Tory leader's comments were "born out of panic and desperation", claiming that Mr Cameron was "making a huge tactical and strategic mistake" in his campaign.

"My experience is people across the rest of the UK are as hungry and restless for progressive change as people in Scotland are," she said.

"I think we can play a positive part in helping to bring about that change."

The SNP manifesto makes the case for "modest" increases in public spending, resulting in "at least £140 billion extra investment" across the UK.

This would see an additional £9.5 billion above the rate of inflation for the NHS by 2020/21, a total increase of £24 billion.

SNP MPs would back an increase in the minimum wage, wanting this to rise to £8.70 an hour by 2020, and would also vote in favour of the reintroduction of the 50p rate of income tax for top earners, as well as mansion tax and a bankers' bonus tax.

While the tax changes are similar to those set out by Labour, one key difference between the two parties remains over the issue of Trident.

The Nationalists are opposed to the UK having nuclear weapons, with Ms Sturgeon arguing that not renewing Trident is a "a very, very real way in which we can free up resources to spend on giving our children a better future".

Overall, she said the SNP manifesto was "fiscally responsible" but added that it also said: "We need to reduce the deficit in a way that does not tear up the fabric of our society."

Ms Sturgeon insisted: "The SNP is not going into this election seeking the election of SNP MPs in order that we can go to Westminster to be in any way destructive or disruptive. The SNP is not going to Westminster to seek to bring down governments or block budgets. We are going to Westminster to build alliances for good, positive, sensible, progressive change. We will do that constructively, looking to make common cause with people of like mind.

"We will seek to build those alliances for change.

"The more SNP MPs we get elected on May 7, the more influence we will have and the more able we will be to make that change."

She told voters: "If you want Scotland's voice to be heard, if you want a Labour government's budget to be better, if you want a Labour government not to be Tory-lite but to be bold and better and progressive, then vote SNP to make sure all of these things can happen.

"This isn't about one politician being in the pocket of another politician, or vice-versa. I actually think it is about something better and more positive than that, I think it is about different politicians listening to what the voters say and coming together to work together to deliver that change that voters want.

"That's what I'm determined to do."

Ms Sturgeon said the party's manifesto "sets out our priorities for progressive change", adding: "It is a manifesto, above all else, to end austerity. That will be our number one priority.

She argued that taking a "slightly slower path to eliminating the deficit" would allow at least £140 billion extra to be invested across the UK on infrastructure and public services.

The SNP leader continued: "We will also back fair proposals to raise extra revenue. It's right that those with the broadest shoulders pay a little bit more.

"That's why we will back the restoration of the 50p tax rate for the highest earners, a mansion tax and a bankers' bonus tax.

"When money is so tight, we believe it to be all the more important that we use our voice and our votes to make sure that we don't squander scarce resources on new nuclear weapons."

She pledged: "We will seek to build an alliance in the House of Commons against the renewal of Trident and we will vote for the £100 billion that would be saved to be invested instead in education, better childcare and the NHS."

She hailed it as a "manifesto bursting with ideas and ambition" and said, while it was primarily aimed at Scotland, it could bring "real benefits to the whole of the UK".

The First Minister said: "A vote for this SNP manifesto on May 7 will make Scotland's voice heard at Westminster more strongly than it has ever been before.

"A stronger voice for Scotland will mean a stronger voice for new, better and more progressive politics at Westminster - for everyone."

She also stressed that a vote for the SNP was not a vote for independence or another referendum.

Ms Sturgeon said: "I am offering to people elsewhere in the UK a genuine hand of friendship. I'm not trying to hide my political beliefs as far as independence is concerned.

"But I am saying very clearly we can work together to get the change that people in Scotland want and, in my experience, many, many people across the rest of these islands want as well.

"It matters to Scotland to get better policies at Westminster and if we can use our voice to do that we benefit people not just in Scotland but everywhere across these islands."

She stated: "Let me make crystal clear there is no back door to Scottish independence.

"There is only the route of persuading a majority of people to vote for independence in a referendum.

"There is no back door, there is no shortcut, there is no easy route."

But she said that, despite the SNP's support for a separate Scotland, her party could "nevertheless be allies for progressive change" with others at Westminster.

Here she said working towards "full financial responsibility" for Scotland, making Holyrood responsible for raising all the cash it spends, was "something we will seek agreement on".

However she said even if a deal could be reached on this, - and the SNP's opponents claim it would leave Scotland with a £7.6 billion shortfall in its finances - it would take "several years" for this to be implemented.

Ms Sturgeon insisted she was "not seeking to impose policies on anybody" but instead wanted to "forge alliances with people of like minds across the UK so we can win more progressive change".

The SNP leader said: "As long as we remain a part of it, it matters to people in Scotland that decisions made at Westminster are good decisions.

"It is in the interests of the SNP, speaking up for Scotland, to work constructively within that system to make it better. As we do that we can get better politics and better policies for people right across the UK who are as desperate for change as people in Scotland are right now."