article_snippet: Former Scottish First Minister said the SNP would hold all 'the power' if a Labour government needed a Labour government votes to survive – and even claimed the party's surge in support showed the SNP had been the real winner of last year's independence referendum.
article_snippet: But Mr Salmond, who is standing to re-enter parliament in the Gordon constituency, boasted that the party was set to dictate what was happening in Westminster.
article_snippet: He said it would be 'very good for Scotland' if there was a decisive number of SNP MPs after May 7, adding: 'If you hold the balance, then you hold the power,' He said.
article_snippet: If the SNP are in these circumstances the SNP will be very good for Scotland, certainly.'
article_snippet: Mr Salmond's went on: 'Hopefully that decisive bloc of SNP MPs will move Labour in a different direction.
article_snippet: Mr Salmond's told Pienaar's Politics on BBC Radio 5
article_snippet: Mr Salmond's said Mr Salmond's believed Scottish independence was now 'near inevitable', and hinted that a commitment to a new referendum could be included in the SNP manifesto for the 2016 elections north of the border. '
article_snippet: I think the direction is now as near inevitable as anything can be in politics,' Mr Salmond's told the Marr Show. '
article_snippet: Mr Salmond's also appeared to rule out taking over as leader of the SNP's Westminster group in that proportional parliament. '
highlights_snippet: Former Scottish First Minister said the SNP would hold