EDINBURGH and London are at loggerheads over the Conservative Government's plans to scrap the Human Rights Act.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has pledged to block moves to abolish the Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights north of the border, describing the proposal as "appalling".

But the Conservatives insisted that the plans, totemic to many Tory voters, would be applied UK-wide.

The row erupted after Scotland's sole Conservative MP and newly-appointed Scottish Secretary David Mundell insisted his government's plans would apply to Scotland.

In response Ms Sturgeon said: "I oppose the repeal of the Human Rights Act, I think it's an appalling thing to be doing.

"Human rights are there to protect all of us, for example it was the Human Rights Act that enabled people to go to court to object against the bedroom tax.

"The idea that we take away human rights, I think, is just an awful suggestion, so the Scottish Government will oppose that and work hard to make sure that in Scotland people still get vital human-rights protection."

The Conservative manifesto pledged to scrap the Human Rights Act and break the link between British courts and the European Court of Human Rights.

The move followed claims criminals were using the Strasbourg court to overturn UK court judgements on often spurious grounds.

The Human Rights Act gives legal effect in the UK to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

ECHR was also incorporated into the 1998 Scotland Act, leading some to argue that any repeal of the Human Rights Act would not affect Scotland.

This in turn has led to claims that Scotland could become a "soft touch" for those wishing to appeal to Europe to hear their cases.

But the UK Government insists the situation is more complicated than that - and that plans to scrap the Human Rights Act and replace it with a British Bill of Rights will apply across the UK.

Among the measures the SNP could try to block the move include a vote on the issue at Holyrood.

Social justice secretary, Alex Neil, yesterday told the Holyrood chamber: "The Scottish Government's position is that implementation of the Conservative government's proposals would require legislative consent and that this parliament should make clear that such consent will not be given."

Mr Neil also told MSPs there was currently "insufficient detail" in the Conservative's proposals to predict the full t on Scotland.

"However, given the almost unanimous opposition in this parliament and among Scottish MPs at Westminster, it would remain open to exclude Scotland from legislation to repeal the Human Rights Act or for the Scottish government to pass legislation to give effect to a range of rights in policy areas which are within devolved competence."

MSPs passed a motion in support of the Human Rights Act by a majority of 100 to 10 last November.

The Strasbourg court itself has calculated that in 2014 it had dealt with 1,997 applications from the UK.

Of these 1,970 were declared inadmissible or struck out, just 14 judgements were delivered and only four found a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Earlier, Mr Mundell, Scotland's sole Conservative MP, said: "New legislation replaces existing legislation and therefore the new act will apply in Scotland."

He added that he thought Scots shared what he described as concerns across the United Kingdom "that we've got the balance wrong between rights and responsibilities".

But, he said, he expected "vigorous and robust" debate on the proposals when they come before MPs.

At Holyrood SNP MSP Mark McDonald accused the Tories of "dangerous posturing" on the issue.

Labour MSP Claire Baker agreed describing the proposals as "appalling".

Party colleague Neil Findlay described the policy as "the first grenade" in a "very bloody assault" on the rights of working people.

But Conservative MSP Margaret Mitchell said the plans were an opportunity to sort out some "not inconsiderable" problems.