Minister is blasted over 'nuclear cronyism'

Miss Cooper is set to announce controversial plans to help energy firms brush aside objections to new nuclear power stations.

The announcement of a shake-up in the planning laws, which will create a quango to determine the fate of large projects such as power plants, will be seen as a major victory for supporters of nuclear energy.

Friends of the Earth have said that it will lead to the go-ahead for up to ten uranium-powered stations, the first for a generation.

They warn that local people worried about the risk of radiation leaks will struggle to make their voices heard in the planning process.

Until recently, Miss Cooper's father Tony Cooper was chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association, which lobbies Ministers on the benefits of atomic power.

Mr Cooper, 63, an ex-union boss, is now director of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and has become one of the most outspoken champions of the industry's 'green' credentials.

The Conservatives have put down parliamentary questions to probe the full extent of the links between New Labour and the nuclear industry.

Tory environment spokesman Greg Barker warned of the risk of a 'conflict of interest'.

He added: "The nuclear lobby seems to have an armlock on New Labour at the highest level, which makes you wonder how objective they can be on energy policy."

Miss Cooper, 38, is married to Ed Balls, the Treasury Minister and close confidant of Gordon Brown whose brother Andrew is a director of the French energy giant EDF.

Mr Cooper told The Mail on Sunday he was a supporter of nuclear power because he believed it was one of the potential solutions to climate change.

He added: "I have been absolutely scrupulous and never lobbied my daughter. We don't want to talk work.

"My own family know what my views are. As in so many families, fathers' views are regarded with a degree of wry amusement."

A spokeswoman for Miss Cooper said she had declared her father's jobs as a potential conflict of interest to the top civil servant in her department. The spokeswoman added: "Her father's posts have been disclosed to the Permanent Secretary and the Cabinet Office."