In an attempt to court voters ahead of the May 7 election, British Prime Minister David Cameron said his party had ten days to save the United Kingdom from Scottish nationalists who he said would sow chaos if they won a kingmaker position.
Opinion polls show Cameron's Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party are neck-and-neck with neither expected to win an overall majority.
The Scottish National Party, which has surged in popularity since Scots voted against independence in a Sept. 18 referendum, is set to wipe out Labour in Scotland and has said it wants to work with Labour to block the Conservatives returning to power.
In an interview with the The Times newspaper, published on Tuesday, Cameron said the SNP didn't want the United Kingdom or its Westminster-based government to succeed.
"They want the exact opposite," he said. "The SNP come at the argument wanting the best for Scotland and the rest of the UK can go hang because they don't want to be part of it, they don't want it to be a success."
The SNP, which wants independence for Scotland, says Britain's institutions are failing and that it will act constructively to bring 'progressive change' across the United Kingdom if it wins a kingmaker position.
{{/usCountry}}The SNP, which wants independence for Scotland, says Britain's institutions are failing and that it will act constructively to bring 'progressive change' across the United Kingdom if it wins a kingmaker position.
{{/usCountry}}Cameron said he would consider it a failure if his Conservatives do not win a majority.
"Not winning the election outright is obviously not a success," he said. "I have a duty to spend the next ten days to win the election outright ... Ten days to save the United Kingdom."
U.S. statistician Nate Silver, who successfully forecast the result of the last two U.S. presidential elections, predicted the Conservatives would win the most seats but that Labour and the SNP combined could have more seats, an outcome he described as "incredibly messy"