Xinhua, Edinburgh :Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Saturday said she would use the Scottish National Party (SNP)’s influence at Westminster Parliament to force an end of austerity across Britain.Sturgeon, also the SNP leader, met the SNP new members of parliament at Forth Bridge to the west of Edinburgh. She told them to “work with others” at Parliament to end austerity across Britain after the SNP won a record 56 seats at the House of Commons during Thursday’s general election.”The people of Scotland voted for an SNP manifesto that had ending austerity as its number one priority and that is the priority for these men and women to now take to the very heart of the Westminster agenda,” she was quoted as saying by the Sky TV news.Sturgeon pledged to continue to reach out to people of progressive opinion right across Britain to put priorities of ending austerity, investing in public services like the National Health Service, investing in a stronger economy to get more young people in jobs right at the heart of Westminster.Former SNP leader and former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond, who won a seat for the SNP in northeastern Scotland, reiterated Sturgeon’ s remarks that the SNP election victory is not a mandate for the party to move ahead with independence.The mandate is for the SNP to do its best, shift the British Parliament away from austerity towards progressive politics, he added.
