LABOUR’S decision to rule out a formal coalition with the SNP has not drastically changed the outlook of the Ochils and South Perthshire campaign race, according to the candidates.

The SNP had said any deal had been unlikely in the first, while Labour argued this move to distance themselves from the Nationalists would urge all those against a Tory win to rally their support behind them.

Last week, the Conservatives candidate Luke Graham outlined his support for his party’s opposition to any SNP power share.

He said: “The SNP is fundamentally opposed to the idea of Britain.

“I however will make it very clear to the constituents of Ochils and South Perthshire that I am a proud Unionist who values Scotland and Britain in equal measure. We are stronger, wealthier and more forward-thinking together.” The Tories then urged Labour to follow suit, with Labour leader Ed Miliband stating on Monday: “There will be no SNP ministers in any government I lead.” This week, Gordon Banks, Labour incumbent for the Ochils seat, said any Labour-SNP coalition at Westminster was, and had alwasy been, an impossible prospect.

He said: “We’ve said repeatedly we don’t want or need a coalition with the SNP. The Tories are trying to mislead people about a coalition that could never happen, so we’re ruling that out explicitly.

“There are big differences between us. Not just on the integrity of the United Kingdom and another referendum but on funding for Scotland.

“I don’t want Scotland to be worse off because of the SNP’s failed economic plans and I think it is right that we have now ruled out any coalition with the SNP.

“It’s now very clear that if people want a Labour Government they are going to have to vote for it and that the only way to have voices for Scotland in that government is also to vote Labour.” However, the SNP candidate for the Ochils seat Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh hit back, saying Labour’s stance had not altered her party’s aims for the forthcoming election.

Echoing the sentiments of party leader Nicola Sturgeon, she said: “There’s been an awful lot of hype to rule out something that no one had been proposing anyway.

“Certainly, I wouldn’t want to be second-guessing the electorate or presuming the outcome of the election.

“This simply underlines what we had said before, the only way the Tory’s remain in power will be if Labour let them.

“The next government will not be formed by the party with the most seats, but the party which can command a majority in the House of Commons.

“And if there are more anti-Tory MPs than there are Tory MPs then, quite simply, they will not be able to do that.” Dr Iliyan Stefanov, Liberal Democrat candidate for the seat, added: “I would say the SNP should not despair. We, the Lib Dems, could work in a coalition with another party in Scotland come 2016, including that of the SNP.

“As for Westminster, it is difficult to see what is the positive message or policy that SNP have to offer, hence others do not have a particularly big desire for co-operation with them.”