Election 2015: Labour rules out post-election deal with Plaid Cymru

Labour has ruled out doing a post-election deal with Plaid Cymru, despite claims it would "open the door" to the Tories.

Plaid leader Leanne Wood has said she could do a deal to put Labour in power even if the SNP was not involved.

Answering voters' questions for a BBC TV special, she said she would seek the "best possible deal for Wales".

However, Welsh Labour said their opposition to any deal with the SNP also applies to Plaid in the same way.

Ms Wood said Labour leader Ed Miliband was highly irresponsible to rule out a deal with the SNP, claiming it would "open the door" to the Tories.

Leanne Wood restated her claim that Wales should get an extra £1.2bn of UK Treasury funding to achieve parity with Scotland

Speaking on BBC Wales' Ask Leanne Wood programme on Thursday, the Plaid leader also restated her claim that Wales should get an extra £1.2bn of UK Treasury funding to achieve parity with Scotland.

She said the money would allow an end to austerity, and could come from scrapping £100bn plans to upgrade the Trident nuclear deterrent.

Meanwhile David Cameron and Ed Miliband faced tough questions from a BBC Question Time audience over their economic plans in the final UK-wide TV event of the campaign.

The prime minister insisted he would not cut child benefit or tax credits if he wins next week's election but Mr Miliband said he did not believe him.

The Labour leader added that his party did not overspend when in power, and ruled out a post-election deal with the SNP.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg was grilled over tuition fees, trust and coalition deals.

Analysis by Nick Servini, BBC Wales political editor

Ed Miliband had already ruled out doing a deal with the SNP, and Plaid.

But he has now gone further saying he'd stick to that even if it meant he failed to get enough support to put together a government.

In other words he'd be prepared to let the chance of becoming Prime Minister go, rather than do a deal with a party which he says wants to break up the UK.

Welsh Labour says the ramping up of the rhetoric against the SNP applies to Plaid.

So that would suggest the possibility of Plaid even being able to strike some kind of separate deal with Labour is remote.

Plaid would clearly like to stick with the SNP. Leanne Wood did not volunteer this information - it was included in an answer to a question from the audience.

But it does show that even though Leanne Wood has become so closely associated with the rise of Nicola Sturgeon, she's prepared to break out separately if the opportunity arose.

One final point: this should be put into perspective as Plaid are only defending three seats, which is far fewer than the number of seats the SNP are expected to return next week.

Hit Wales'

Elsewhere in the campaign on Thursday, First Minister Carwyn Jones warned that the Tories had "given up on Britain" with their attacks on the SNP in Scotland and his Labour administration in Wales.

Mr Jones said the Conservative strategy was to target the "English nationalist vote", and "hit Scotland, hit Wales".

Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb said Conservative economic policies had created 20,000 manufacturing jobs in Wales.

Visiting a firm in Cardiff, he said: "We've seen a remarkable revival in Welsh manufacturing over the last five years, but we want to go even further.

"The next Conservative government will continue to create the right conditions to boost Welsh manufacturing and close the gap in economic performance between Wales and the rest of the UK."

The Liberal Democrats focused on a six-point plan to create more opportunities for women at home and abroad.

The proposals include challenging gender stereotypes, closing the pay gap between men and women and taking action across the world against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).

Welsh Lib Dem candidate Jane Dodds said she was proud of what the party had achieved in government.

"More women are in work than ever before, women have secured more than a third of all recent FTSE 100 board appointments and by introducing shared parental leave we have challenged the outdated system which prevented dads from playing a full role in their child's life," she said.