UK MINISTERS and business chiefs are calling for Alex Salmond to be stripped of his ability to block nuclear power stations and Trident warheads in Scotland, as part of a major review of Holyrood's powers.
They want to use a cross-party commission on the Scottish Parliament to ensure its powers over planning are handed to Westminster.
Salmond has vowed to block any new nuclear power stations in Scotland by rejecting planning applications.
The SNP Government may also prevent the construction of docks for the Trident nuclear submarines on the Clyde, forcing the Ministry of Defence to move them elsewhere.
Labour ministers now claim that, as matters such as energy and defence relate to national security, no devolved government should be able to defy London's will.
The calls were led by Defence Minister Adam Ingram, the MP for East Kilbride.
On nuclear energy, Ingram said: "I believe that the powers of frustration that Alex Salmond is now using to the highest degree should be taken away and placed in the hands of people who do understand and have taken concern of energy security."
On Trident, he added: "What Salmond is saying is that he is prepared to use the same powers in terms of the environment and planning to end the location of Trident on the Clyde. Whether you are for or against Trident, it isn't right that it should be the remit of the devolved administration to frustrate the will of the nation."
Ingram's call over nuclear energy is also being made by the director of the Confederation of British Industry in Scotland, Iain McMillan.
He said: "The commission should examine the feasibility of moving the planning consent powers from Scottish ministers to the Secretary of State for Scotland.
"It currently allows Scottish ministers to frustrate UK energy policy. In my view this is a serious matter and needs to be looked at."
Pro-nuclear Scottish Labour MP John Robertson, who chairs the cross-party group on nuclear energy at Westminster, said:
"I would raise this because my thoughts are for the people that are going to need a service in Scotland. We are going to reach a stage in 2025 when there is going to be a shortage of energy."
The moves put further pressure on Wendy Alexander, the leader of the Labour group at the Scottish Parliament. She put forward the idea of the commission as a way of ensuring Holyrood has more financial responsibility.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown appeared to back the case for more financial powers last week, but he also warned that the review would be a "two-way street".
One Labour MP said last night: "If they want more powers at Holyrood, then they're going to have to give some back."
Sources close to the prime minister have singled out climate change and counter-terrorism as two other areas where powers might go back to Westminster.
A Whitehall source said: ""Environmental issues were devolved for good reasons, but it's now a much bigger issue than it was in the 1990s when the Scotland Act was being drafted."
The commission is now set for a split, as senior Liberal Democrat MPs rejected Brown's demand for a two-way exchange of powers.
Alastair Carmichael, the MP for Orkney and Shetland, said: "The Prime Minister must finally swallow the bitter pill and accept that devolution is not going to be a two-way street.
"The commission process is about giving more powers to the Scottish Parliament. A return of powers from Holyrood to Westminster is not on the agenda."
A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said it would be wrong to pre-judge the outcome of the commission.
"We need an independently chaired commission so that the facts can be laid out in front of the country. There may be powers that go back to Westminster but it is still likely that, if there are changes, the majority would go the other way."
An SNP spokesman said: "Wendy Alexander's commission was supposed to be about boosting the powers of the Parliament, but now Downing Street has taken charge of it, relegated it to a mere working party and Gordon Brown is talking about clawing powers back."
He added: "It is an extremely foolish and self-defeating road for the Labour party to go down, which will further damage their standing in Scotland.
"The Scottish Parliament as a whole has voted against both a new Trident nuclear weapons system being dumped in Scotland and unnecessary new nuclear power stations."
The full article contains 761 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
