Willie Rennie used this evening’s debate to say the Lib Dems are prepared to work with other parties in coalition but that it would not be reasonable to put the SNP in charge as they are in favour of breaking up the United Kingdom.
He said: “We’re prepared to work with other parties where we can agree, we’ve showed that in the last five years.
“But I don’t think it would be reasonable to put a party that’s in favour of breaking up the United Kingdom in charge of the United Kingdom. I don’t think you could really put the SNP in charge.
“What I’m in favour of is making sure we have a stable partnership in the United Kingdom that carries on the economic progress we’ve made in the last five years and does it fairly.”
Ms Davidson ruled out any deal with the SNP and said she promises to fight to honour the outcome of the Scottish independence referendum.
She said: “I promise to fight head, heart, body and soul to honour that referendum result to keep our country together and that means no deals with the people who would break up Britain.
“So if you believe and want to build and keep the recovery going, and if you believe in keeping our country together then the Scottish Conservatives stand with you.”
She also ruled out any deals with Ukip, saying: “There will be no deals with Ukip. They won’t have enough MPs in parliament, they will not get into double digits in parliament in order to be able to have a coalition deal so there will be no deal.
“I’ve already said my preference is minority government, the Prime Minister said if he doesn’t get a majority his preference is minority government.”
In a question and answer session with the audience Mr Murphy was asked why he feels that as a small nation the country needs to retain weapons of mass destruction.
He replied: “I want a world free of nuclear weapons but we cannot uninvent the technology, we have to negotiate away the capability. The last Labour government did cut the number of warheads by a higher proportion than any other nation on earth.
“I don’t want just a Scotland free of nuclear weapons, I don’t think it makes much sense to just move our weapons to the north of England, I want them off the face of the planet altogether but in a world where Iran has been trying to get a nuclear bomb and North Korea is also trying, I think it’s a much safer thing to negotiate with the Americans, the French and all those other nations so that we can free not just one country but the entire planet of these weapons of mass destruction.”