Sir Keir Starmer has repeatedly declined to rule out entering into a coalition with the Liberal Democrats if Labour fails to win a majority at the next general election.
The Labour leader on Tuesday refused to rule out a pact with Sir Ed Davey’s party despite emphatically saying he would not team up with the SNP.
Sir Keir has said he believes he is on course to win outright after gaining hundreds of councillors and control of 22 local authorities at last week’s elections.
But the Lib Dems were also resurgent and projections have put Labour as not yet being in the position to form a majority government without progress among voters.
Sir Keir equivocated on whether he would form a pact with the Lib Dems if required to enter Downing Street when repeatedly pressed during a round of broadcast interviews.
He insisted he is “going for an outright majority” but asked about a deal with Sir Ed, the Labour leader told Sky News: “I’m not answering hypotheticals but we’re aiming for a Labour majority and that’s what we’re confident about.”
But he said he was “absolutely clear there are no terms in which we will do a deal with the SNP”.
Sir Keir insisted the reason he would only be definite about the Scottish nationalists was because there is a “fundamental difference” between his party and the SNP.
“I do not believe in the break-up and separation of the United Kingdom, I do not believe that our future will be better if we put a border between Scotland and England, so there’s no basis for an agreement,” he told Sky.
Watch the clip in full below:
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