There are many reasons not to vote UKIP. That they are the most corrupt political party in Britain, that their politicians and members are often nasty racists and ignorant bigots, that their voters tend to be the most uneducated in society. But now, with the arithmetic of the upcoming election, we can see a real and grave danger.

The SNP are going to win most of the seats in Scotland, not because they deserve to but because the Conservatives are a toxic brand there and the Labour party has been in disarray there for years. We are talking about up to 59 seats here. So if the two main parties of Great Britain, the Conservatives and Labour, are neck and neck after the election then Labour will form the government with Salmond’s support. But Salmond will extract a high price because Labour will not be able do do anything without his permission. Effectively Salmond will be running the country.

We know all this because Salmond has told us so. He is expecting to be running Great Britain.

And one of the biggest factors that will allow this to happen will be the voters who favour UKIP over the Conservatives, thus letting Labour win marginal constituencies. If these people did the sensible thing, voting Conservative, then we would get a Conservative government and Salmond would just be an insignificant back bencher. Which is by far the preferred solution.

The issue that people say makes them support UKIP is the EU. But the fact is that the ONLY party that will give us the choice in a IN/OUT referendum is the Conservatives. Just as they gave Scotland an IN/OUT referendum with Great Britain. Which Salmond and the SNP lost. So there is no reason to vote UKIP. And there are very good reasons not to.

People in Scotland have another option to keep Salmond out. They can vote tactically. Here is a tactical voting guide: