CONSERVATIVES WOULD REVIEW HOLYROOD POWERS IF ELECTED

Senior figures in Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's shadow cabinet are drafting plans to review the Scotland Act and consider withdrawing powers from the Scottish Parliament if the party wins the next election. A senior member of Badenoch's team said the Conservatives "will review the Scotland Act and consider withdrawing powers if it would ensure better governance of the UK". A separate source said the Scottish Conservatives back the move, saying "the time has come to start looking at this". No timetable has been set for either the review or the election.

The plans follow comments from Andrew Bowie, the Scottish Conservative MP serving as shadow energy secretary, who said the party would strip the Scottish Government of planning powers to allow a new nuclear power station in Scotland. Planning is devolved, and the SNP-led Scottish Government has used those powers to maintain a de facto block on new nuclear stations. Bowie said that block has resisted pressure from Labour and Conservative governments at Westminster. He said the Conservatives would need a third large-scale reactor and that no part of Britain, including Scotland, would be off limits for its construction.

Bowie said energy policy is reserved to the UK Parliament and he was "fed up with the SNP playing games with devolved planning policy" to block nuclear development. He said the Conservatives would "legislate to get it done", declaring "no more Mr Nice Guy" and "no more devolve and forget" on the issue. The wider Scotland Act review could reshape which powers sit with Holyrood and which remain at Westminster. Any changes depend on the Conservatives winning the next general election, with no date confirmed for the review or the vote.