Welfare or warfare? That was the question of the Trident debate.
Of course, the resounding verdict inside the chamber rested very much on the former. Outside, however, the war has just begun.
Both the SNP and now Scottish Labour are generally marching to the beat of the same drum on the future of the nuclear deterrent – namely, that there shouldn’t be one.
Indeed, despite the confusion surrounding Labour’s position, both parties are publicly doing their best to out-do each other on how pro-bairns – rather than pro-bombs – they are.
Scottish Labour member Claire Baker not only backed the motion calling for the scrapping of Trident – she actually provided a framework to mitigate any job losses that will result in the ditching of the multi-billion pound project.
Jackie Baillie – who delivered the finest speech of the debate – was one of the few dissenting voices in the chamber.
But inside the Scottish Labour party, things are increasingly far from peaceful.
The decision to back scrapping the deterrent – and the verve that it was pounced on by some party MSPs yesterday – has led Labour moderates to fear they have a fight on their hands.
The party faces a drubbing at the polls in May.
Anything short of a face-saving defeat could put the moderate leader, Kezia Dugdale, under pressure from those who believe the key to the party’s resurgence lies in being more left-wing than the SNP.
In similar circumstances, former leader Jim Murphy – a staunch Blairite – was practically ousted following the general election defeat.
Centrists in the party now warn that the Trident vote – hailed as a victory for the left – is just the first battle in a potential civil war to keep the party in the centre ground.
The verdict might be welfare – but behind the scenes the party is preparing for warfare.