scottish labour mps are defying ed miliband by telling voters on the doorstep they would not support a post election deal with the snp in an indication of a growing split in the party over its election strategy, several mps are indicating that they would not be prepared to back any arrangement with scottish nationalists after may some are even said to be threatening to quit the party rather than be part of an administration propped up by the snp, which wants to break up the uk labour leader ed miliband is facing a rebellion in scotland over his plan to do a post election deal with the snp  despite pressure from shadow chancellor ed balls, mr miliband has repeatedly refused to rule out relying on the votes of snp mps to enable a labour government to take power if he fails to win a commons majority there is rising labour panic at polls suggesting the scottish nationalists are heading for a landslide victory north of the border – picking up dozens of mps at the expense of labour and the liberal democrats the latest suggest that the snp could win as many as 50 of scotland’s 59 seats, including labour strongholds currently held by gordon brown and alistair darling that would mean nicola sturgeon and alex salmond holding the balance of power at westminster, threatening a constitutional crisis one scottish labour mp said: ‘labour mps on the doorstep are saying “if you vote for us we won’t do a deal with the snp” the group are united i’m not aware of a colleague who is advocating against that position’ another mp said: ‘there’s no prospect of any deal with the snp and i’m making that clear on the doorstep ‘but i don’t want to be focusing on the issue of deals, and i understand why it hasn’t been ruled out [by mr miliband] we would end up getting diverted into a campaign that’s all about deals, rather than our key message which is that we can have a labour majority government’ in constituencies where there was a strong no vote in last year’s independence referendum, or where there are large numbers of middle class scots who traditionally vote lib dem or tory, labour’s candidates are now telling people on the doorstep there will be no pact with the snp the move – in defiance of mr miliband’s official stance   is designed to encourage tactical voting towards labour but in more working class areas such as the west of scotland where the independence campaign performed better, mps fear ruling out a deal could make voters leaning towards the nationalists ‘more bloody minded’ ian davidson, labour chairman of the commons scottish affairs committee ruled out a deal with the snp  ian davidson, the labour chairman of the commons scottish affairs committee, is among those who insists any deal with the snp is ‘simply not credible’ ‘they are simply not trustworthy,’ he said three other labour candidates told the daily mail a deal should not be ruled out, but several others have insisted it should be formally rejected one politician said there is strong evidence on the doorsteps that tory and libdem supporters are ‘considering voting labour for the first time to stop the snp’ “we have to squeeze tory and libdem voters and tell them that we won’t be dealing with the snp,” the mp said “but i do understand why some mps don’t want us to rule it out people who are thinking of voting snp might see it as belligerent nonsense if the libdems were somehow heading for 50 seats, we wouldn’t be pressed to rule out a deal with them ‘people are split people know there’s a problem with ruling it out, but there’ s also a problem if we don’t’ at last weekend’s scottish labour conference in edinburgh, mr miliband ducked the question haunting his election campaign and failed to rule out a deal with the snp he repeated the line that a vote for the snp makes it more likely david cameron will return to number ten, which has so far failed to impress scots voters deputy prime minister nick clegg has upped pressure on the labour leader by ruling his party out of any government involving the snp ‘our view is that, in the same way we would not countenance putting ukip in charge of the eu, we would not countenance putting the snp in charge of a country that they want to rip apart it’s as simple as that,’ the liberal democrat leader said that was seen as a rebuke to lib dem business secretary vince cable, who has mused publicly on the idea of a lib lab snp coalition yesterday, labour’s biggest private donor suggested that working with the tories would be preferable to a deal with the snp ‘if you look at what’s happened in germany and other countries where grand coalitions have happened, they have been reasonably successful,’ businessman john mills said scotland’s first minister nicola sturgeon said: ‘labour are all over the place the polls show a majority of scots want snp mps providing a strong scottish voice in westminster’ last night former labour welfare minister frank field warned the party leadership that a labour snp deal could lead to a breakaway ‘english labour party’
snp miliband ed miliband labour
ed miliband is facing a rebellion north of the border over snp deal  some labour mps say they will quit the party over such an arrangement  miliband has refused to rule out any post election deal with the snp  one leading labour member said any such plan was 'not credible'