SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon told Plaid Cymru conference delegates yesterday that their two parties “offered the only parliamentary fightback against the Westminster government’s austerity policies.”

“That is our alliance — Plaid and the SNP — putting forward the progressive case at Westminster and presenting the real and only opposition to the Tories,” Ms Sturgeon said.

“Our industrial heartlands, built on coalmining, shipbuilding and steel, have so often experienced the same rise and fall in fortunes, and have so often been let down by successive UK governments.”

And Ms Sturgeon was clear on what the response must be: “Wales and Scotland are both on a journey — and our destination is independence.”

Ms Sturgeon’s SNP government is currently selling off CalMac ferries and has closed several courts.