Labour sources have turned on the Conservative Defence Secretary Philip Hammond accusing him of "unhelpful" negative attacks on the SNP and of gatecrashing a visit by his shadow number to Scotland.
The complaints are the biggest cracks yet to appear in the three pro-Union parties' united front against independence.
They came as No 10 was forced to effectively disown claims by another Conservative minister, David Mundell, there was "no deal to be done" on Trident if Scots vote 'Yes'. Downing Street instead backed Mr Hammond's comments that there would be "nothing non-negotiable. Everything will be on the table". However, the Prime Minister's official spokesman was forced to deny the Defence Secretary was talking about potentially sharing the pound, a move UK ministers have already ruled out.
But the SNP seized on the comments saying that the Secretary of State had let the cat out of the bag and "conceded" there would be currency negotiations. In a sign of increasing tensions between the three pro-Union parties Mr Hammond also came under fire from Labour sources.
They said that they were "surprised" at the tone of the Tory MPs' comments about the SNP and to discover that he was making a visit to Scotland at the same time as shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker.
One Labour source said: "We have tried to put the positive case for defence. What Philip Hammond is saying is not very helpful, coming from an Conservative minister with an English constituency." It is understood Mr Coaker's trip had been long-planned and that, as part of its organisation, Labour had sought permission from the Ministry of Defence for a visit to Faslane. "Everything was done properly and through (campaign group) Better Together, because we are very aware that this is all in the national interest.
"So it is very surprising that the Defence Secretary is coincidentally arriving in Scotland at the same time." He also said that Labour had made overtones to Mr Hammond about bipartisan co-operation on the issue of Scottish independence but that these had been "rebuffed".
"The next thing we know Philip Hammond is coming to Scotland." Earlier, No 10 had insisted that the UK Government's opposition to a currency union had not changed, despite Mr Hammond's comments on negotiations. Downing Street said the Tory cabinet minister had been speaking about "defence issues only". In answer to a question on whether or not it was acceptable for Alex Salmond to include the removal of Trident from Scotland as one of his non-negotiable 'red lines' after independence, the Defence Secretary had stressed that no-one could go into "any negotiation" with non-negotiable objectives. He said: "You can go with things you intend to make your principal objectives in a negotiation and, when you have issues about which you are not prepared to be flexible, invariably you have to give way on other things in order to achieve your objectives." Sources close to Mr Hammond last night said that his visit had been planned for months and that his speech today (tues) was very positive
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