A senior Liberal Democrat warned Conservative MPs not to “throw their toys out of their pram” as fresh Coalition tensions flared today.
John Thurso MP accused Tories of having “temper tantrums” after the Lib-Dems refused to join David Cameron in opposing an investigation into Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s handling of Rupert Murdoch's £8 billion bid for BSkyB.
He hit out as Lib-Dems and Tories clashed over replacing the Trident nuclear deterrent, Lords reform, wind farms and regional pay.
Tory MPs are now threatening to scupper plans by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg for an elected upper chamber.
Mr Thurso told BBC Radio 4’s the Westminster Hour: “I find it perfectly extraordinary that a major and important constitutional change, which was in both our manifestos and is in the Coalition agreement — that Conservatives would consider chucking that out while they’re having a temper tantrum, throwing their toys out of their pram over something completely different.
“That is a degree of childishness that the voting public would find very hard to forgive them for.”
The Coalition partners are also deeply divided over Britain’s Trident nuclear deterrent, with Tory MPs demanding a full replacement and Lib-Dems pursuing cheaper alternatives.
Conservative Defence Secretary Philip Hammond yesterday confirmed a £1 billion contract for reactors to power the next generation of nuclear submarines.
He announced the contract for two reactor cores, one of which will be used for the seventh Astute-class attack submarine and one for the first of the next generation nuclear submarines.
The funding will also be used for an 11-year refit of the Rolls-Royce plant at Raynesway, Derby, which will carry out the work, creating 300 jobs.
While backing the decision as necessary to allow the full replacement of Trident, Liberal Democrat armed forces minister Nick Harvey said that the next government could decide against it.
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“The money that has been committed today is a spend over an 11-year period, so if we decide in 2016 not to go ahead with some of these engines the government of the day would have to negotiate its way out of that,” he said.
Mr Clegg is also said to be prepared to block plans by Chancellor George Osborne to introduce regional public sector pay scales.
And Lib-Dem Energy Secretary Ed Davey today warned against playing “fast and loose” with investors in onshore wind farms after a Conservative backlash against scores of plans.
More than 100 Tory MPs have called for cuts in support for wind farms and No 10 is reportedly applying pressure for greater reductions in subsidies.
But Mr Davey said: “If you were to make the mistake of increasing the political risk premium of investing in the UK by playing fast and loose like this, there will be a very heavy price.”
