JOHN Swinney has been encouraged to consider ending automatic pay rises for thousands of public sector workers in Scotland "with an open mind".

The appeal from Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, came after the Scottish Finance Secretary dropped a heavy hint that he was minded not to follow George Osborne's lead on the matter.

In his 2015/16 spending review statement, the Chancellor announced he would end so-called "progression pay" among civil servants in that year and look to do the same for NHS staff, teachers, prison officers and the police.

While the Coalition can impose this on civil servants working for it in Scotland, it is up to the Scottish Government to determine whether this will be extended to all public sector workers.

In response to the review, Mr Swinney suggested he might look to protect the living standards of Scotland's 570,000 public servants by not following suit.

Mr Alexander insisted there was a "very good case for phasing out progression pay", which was based purely on time served and ensuring annual pay rises were based on performance.

Meanwhile, Tory Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has accused Nick Clegg of being "reckless with national security" over his refusal to accept a £20 billion like-for-like replacement for the Clyde-based Trident nuclear deterrent.