THE leaders of the SNP and Scottish Labour clashed yesterday over who is best placed to end Tory rule ahead of May’s general election.

Nicola Sturgeon launched a new SNP campaign poster showing tartan seats in the House of Commons, with the slogan “The more seats we have here, the more powers we’ll have in Scotland.”

The SNP leader told party members they had to reach “beyond those who normally vote SNP and those who voted Yes last year.”

Ms Sturgeon called on No voters to “lend us your vote this time so that we can hold Westminster to account.”

She said: “If Scotland votes for Westminster parties in May, these parties will think they are off the hook.

“They will go back to taking Scotland for granted and the vow we got during the referendum of ‘extensive new powers’ for our Parliament will be watered down.”

But Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy warned SNP voters they could leave David Cameron in power at Downing Street if they back any party other than Labour.

“It is a fact the SNP simply cannot escape for the next 121 days that any seat they take off Labour in the general election makes it less likely that Labour will be the biggest party and more likely David Cameron will get to form the next government,” he said.

Recent opinion polls have indicated that many of Labour’s 41 Westminster seats in Scotland could be at risk from an SNP surge.

Mr Murphy said the nationalist strategy to “deny Labour a majority” would not lead to “a kaleidoscope-coalition” in which the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens could wield power but instead “risks delivering another true-blue Tory government.”