First Minister Alex Salmond was yesterday accused of ignoring the views of the majority of Scots by ruling out the use of nuclear power in the future.

The accusation by Tory leader Annabel Goldie, during First Minister's Questions, came as MSPs voted 63-58 in favour of a government motion ruling out new nuclear stations.

Ms Goldie pointed to poll findings earlier this week which showed 70% of Scots agreed the country should get its electricity from a range of energy sources, including nuclear power.

She said the poll also showed that two-thirds of SNP supporters were in favour of nuclear retention. "It is perfectly clear that to provide a secure, affordable, low carbon base load supply in Scotland we need a mix of energy provision in which renewables and nuclear are complementary."

But Mr Salmond said the amount of electricity produced in Scotland from nuclear power was falling at the same time as generation from other sources was going up.