article_snippet.sent: Ms Sturgeon Ms Sturgeon believes the coalition's fixed term parliaments legislation will strengthen The SNP's hand.
article_snippet.sent: Ms Sturgeon means general elections are held on a fixed timetable every five years, and makes general elections much harder for an election to happen at other times.
article_snippet.sent: Two-thirds of MPs now have to back an earlier election, and governments can lose votes on Budgets, Queen's Speeches and other key legislation without it being seen as a vote of no confidence and triggering an election. '
article_snippet.sent: Ms Sturgeon's remarks come after the former home secretary David Blunkett admitted that Labour could not win a majority because of the SNP surge in Scotland.
article_snippet.sent: the former home secretary David Blunkett said: 'We have a situation where Labour could win literally scores of seats in England and Wales and see themselves unable to offer a majority Labour government because of what's happened in just one part of the United Kingdom.'
article_snippet.sent: The Labour leader's hopes of outright victory on May 7 have been shattered by an extraordinary surge in support for the SNP since the referendum in September saw Scots reject independence.
article_snippet.sent: Ms Sturgeon, who replaced Alex Salmond after the No vote, has vowed to use her gains in the election to 'lock' the Tories out of power and prop up a Labour administration.
article_snippet.sent: But Ms Sturgeon said: 'If the Scottish National Party have a big team of SNP MPs we can exercise real clout on behalf of Scotland, but the Scottish National Party can also build alliances with others in other parts of the UK to get more progressive policies because I think Westminster needs shaken up for everybody.'
article_snippet.sent: Ms Sturgeon added: 'In the House of Commons now… you can defeat governments, you can change the direction of governments without bringing governments down. '