Trident scrutiny for Lab hopefuls

More than 500 Scottish Labour Party activists gathered at Royal Concert Hall to hear from brothers Ed and David Miliband, Diane Abbott, Andy Burnham and Ed Balls.

The candidates faced questions on the banking crisis, the recession and how Labour would handle the economy.

Mr Balls came under fire after suggesting that nuclear power station planning decisions should be taken back to Britain.

He said that the Scottish Parliament could not be allowed to block nuclear power stations - ignoring the fact that planning powers are devolved.

SNP MSP Angela Constance said: "It is clear from today's outing that whoever is elected will have little to say to Scotland."

Fellow SNP MSP and anti-nuclear campaigner Bill Kidd welcomed Ms Abbott's stated opposition to Trident and urged the other candidates to follow suit.

He said: "These weapons are stored just miles from Glasgow so while they are here it is only right that Labour's candidates set out whether they are happy to have a new generation of nuclear weapons.

"The Milibands, Balls and Burnham have been keen to separate themselves from actions of Labour in government, so what do they now think of spending £100 billion on nuclear weapons while cutting spending on public services?"

Despite losing the general election in May, Labour held all its seats in Scotland and won back two it had lost in by-elections.

More than 2,000 people joined the party in Scotland in the weeks after the election, bringing the total to 20,133.

Yesterday's event in Glasgow was the latest in a series across Britain, following a hustings in London on Saturday hosted by left-of-centre think-tank Compass.

The London hustings were dominated by the tax debate, with Ms Abbott arguing that tax rises should play a much larger part in tackling the deficit.

Ed Miliband called for the 50 per cent upper rate of income tax to be made permanent, while David Miliband and Ed Balls accused the Con-Dem government of overstating the dangers of debt to provide cover for an ideological drive to reduce the size of the state.