KEIGHLEY Tory parliamentary candidate Kris Hopkins says he is “shocked but not surprised” at comments made by the Scottish National Party’s former leader at a fundraising event.

Alex Salmond was caught on film quipping that he would be writing the next Labour Party budget.

Mr Hopkins said: “His words simply confirm that he and Nicola Sturgeon will be pulling Ed Miliband’s strings if he sneaks into 10 Downing Street.

“The SNP has two objectives in its desire to prop-up a minority Labour Government – to force another Scottish independence referendum and to squeeze as much as possible out of English taxpayers.”