Nicola Sturgeon will today warn she will not sign up to austerity policies that plunge families into debt in another sign of the demands the SNP could make to prop up a minority Labour Government after the General Election.

 

In her third visit to London in as many weeks, the First Minister will warn against such a "morally unjustifiable and economically unsustainable" economic squeeze to balance the UK's books

Having ruled out any kind of deal with the Conservatives, her comments will be seen as a direct challenge to Labour in the event of a hung parliament in May.

Aides to Ms Sturgeon would not be drawn on whether austerity would be a 'red line' in any coalition negotiations but said the speech"will give an idea of of how we are going to approach discussions around public spending and what our agenda will be".

One added: "The approach does not have to be what either Labour or the Tories have laid out. There are other sensible ways to grow the economy".

But the Liberal Democrats called on Ms Sturgeon to say exactly what taxes she would raise or public spending cut to eradicate the UK's Budget deficit.

At University College London, Ms Sturgeon will attack the austerity she says has become "an article of faith" for the main Westminster parties, including Labour.

She will point to estimates that their deficit reduction plans would leave households deeper in debt in 2020 than they were before the financial crisis began in 2008.

The Tories want to eradicate the Budget deficit by 2017/18, without raising taxes and by cutting welfare payments to the working poor, while the LibDems have signed up to the same timescale, although they say they would cut less and raise more from taxes.

Labour have pledged to erase the deficit by 2020, through shallower cuts and potentially more borrowing.

The First Minister will warn that the deficit is "a symptom and not just a cause" of economic difficulties.

She will add that the current Tory-Lib Dem austerity policy cannot be considered a success, despite recent economic growth, "when it has caused such severe anxiety and misery to so many of our most vulnerable citizens."

She will also add: "What the UK Government is now telling us is this: austerity hasn't worked, so we need even more of it," she will claim.

"Under UK Government plans, the cuts we have seen to date would be much small than what is yet to come. "

Ms Sturgeon will add that if forecasts by 2020 are accurate, then families will be "more heavily indebted than they were just before the financial crisis."

A spokesman for Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael accused Ms Sturgeon of "bombast" but added that her remarks "will not change the reality that the UK government's economic strategy is working".