AS many as 140 contract workers have downed tools at Marchwood Power Station today, the Daily Echo can reveal.

The walkout took place shortly after 10am following a vote at a workers' meeting.

A worker, who wished to remain anonymous said: “Only about one fifth of workers on the site are British and I think that has been causing anger for a number of years.

Daily Echo: Click below to see a video of today's headlines in sixty seconds

“This is why we have taken this decision and decided to support other workers nationally who have walked out.”

The £350m power station is currently being built on the Marchwood Industrial Park.

When it is completed later this year it will generate enough electricity to supply the area of the New Forest, Southampton and Winchester.

The Marchwood Plant is one of several across the country embroiled in a bitter dispute over foreign labour.

The series of wildcat walk-outs were sparked by energy giant Total who opted to import workers from Europe to work on a giant £200m construction project.

Anger over the situation at Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Lincolnshire led to walkouts at sites in Fife, Grangemouth, Redcar, Teeside and South Wales.

Several hundred demonstrators gathered for a third day outside the Lincolnshire plant following a walk-out by contractors on Wednesday, but the unofficial action spread to other parts of the UK, including Scotland and Wales.

A Marchood Power Station spokesman said:"We have nearly 800 people working on the site at the moment. "The majority being British or Irish nationals.

"About 140 of the workforce walked off the site this morning so some of the work on the power station has been interrupted."

The spokesman added that around 65 per cent of the workforce was British or Irish.