SCOTTISH Labour was facing a fresh internal split last night after the party's MPs called for its MSPs to be stripped of some of their powers.
The Westminster group – which includes Prime Minister Gordon Brown – told a private party meeting on Friday that Holyrood should no longer have decision-making powers over crucial policy areas such as energy and national security.
The move has sp
arked a backlash among party MSPs, who not only want to keep the powers but also expected more powers to be devolved. MSPs accuse the MPs of "bad politics" in demanding powers be returned to Westminster.
The private clash comes with the party attempting to put together a submission to the Calman Commission, the body which is currently reviewing Scottish Parliament's powers.
Party chiefs met privately in Glasgow on Friday to discuss the submission where the MPs, led by Renfrewshire MP Jim Sheridan, laid down the view of the Westminster group.
Chief among their concerns are planning powers, currently held by the Scottish Government, which give Scottish ministers control over the construction of new energy projects. The SNP Government has declared it will use the powers, enshrined in the Electricity Act, to ensure no new nuclear power stations can be built north of the border.
But Labour MPs are warning of the threat to Scotland's future energy security. It comes amid growing warnings that the SNP's reliance on renewables will leave Scotland with an energy gap, once two nuclear stations, at Torness and Hunterston, are decommissioned.
The MPs told the private meeting last week that Westminster should be given complete control over such big planning decisions on the grounds of national security.
Labour MP John Robertson, the secretary of the Westminster group, said: "We need to look at security and energy. Energy is a reserved matter but there are planning issues which can be used to frustrate the energy policies."
He added: "When it comes to national security, we believe one body should be in charge of it on a national basis as a UK government."
Several other senior members of the Labour MP group, including Brian Donohoe and Adam Ingram, have also called for the powers to be returned.
But their plans are being opposed by Labour's band of MSPs. Their osition is for Holyrood to keep hold of the powers.
One Labour MSP said last night: "Quite apart from anything else, it's bad politics. They're in the position of saying they want a change because they don't like the decision (of the SNP Government] and the consequences of that. You'd end up with some bureaucrat making the decision about whether to put a nuclear power station in Scotland."
Another senior Labour MSP added: "There is a divergence of view, that's fair to say."
The party's national executive committee – its key decision-making body – is set to meet again this week in an attempt to draw together a consensus position, which will then be made public and delivered to the Calman Commission. A senior Labour source said that the row was simply part of internal party "debate" and that an agreed position would soon be forthcoming.
But a source close to First Minister Alex Salmond said: "The fact that civil war has broken out in Labour ranks comes as absolutely no surprise. And the fact that Scottish Labour MPs seem to want to strip Holyrood of powers and return them to Westminster says everything about their attitude to the Scottish Parliament. Any such proposal would be completely unacceptable and would be opposed by the overwhelming majority of Scots."
The row comes as UK ministers are preparing the ground for a new generation of nuclear power stations. Four potential sites have been named, three in England and one in Wales.
Scotland's two existing reactors are due to close within the next few years. Hunterston in North Ayrshire is currently due to shut down in 2016, while Torness in East Lothian is scheduled to close in 2023.
SNP ministers have argued that Scotland does not need nuclear power because of its vast potential supply of renewable energy. But critics say that there is a danger that Scotland would become a new importer of electricity without nuclear.
One of the members of the Calman Commission, Iain McMillan, has said previously that handing powers over nuclear energy back to Westminster should be considered.
McMillan, the director of the Confederation of British Industry in Scotland said: "In my view this is a serious matter and needs to be looked at."
