SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon set out a plan for alliances with anti-Tory MPs in Westminster yesterday, but refused to give a guarantee to Labour that there would be no second independence referendum during the next Holyrood parliament.

The First Minister claimed the SNP is the “only party offering an alternative to the harsh Westminster cuts agenda.”

Speaking ahead of today’s SNP manifesto launch, Ms Sturgeon said “a strong team of SNP MPs in a hung Parliament at Westminster” would propose increases in health spending across Britain.