ELECTION2015

LONDONERS are over whelmingly against Scottish Nationalists holding the balance of power over the next government, a poll reveals today.

By more than four to one they do not want the SNP to gain enough seats at Westminster to influence who gets into Downing Street after May 7.

The YouGov survey for the Standard also showed that if there is a hung Parliament, nearly half of Londoners would prefer a formal coalition or gove r ni ng dea l i nvolv i ng t he Li be r a l Democrats with either Labour or the Conservatives. Less than one in 11 in the capital would opt for a Labour/SNP arrangement.

Amid fears that Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon would seek to hold Ed Miliband to ransom if the SNP gain dozens of seats to prop up a Labour government, 55 per cent of Londoners believe it would be a “bad thing” if the Scottish Nationalists held the balance of power, compared with 12 per cent who described it as a “good thing”.

Far more Conservative supporters in London were against the prospect of the Scottish part y wielding crucial power over who gets into No10.

More than eight out of ten of them said they were unhappy about such a scenario, compared with 40 per cent of Labour backers, 54 per cent of people intending to vote Lib-Dem and 68 per cent of those favouring Ukip. Tanya A b r a h a m, o f Yo u G o v, said: “Put bluntly, the elec torate in Highgate don’t want the balance of power in Parliament to be dictated by the choice of voters in the Highlands.”

If no party gains a Commons majority to govern alone, just over a quarter of Londoners would like to see a Coalition