GORDON Brown, the Prime Minister, was last night challenged to fulfil a pledge to reduce Britain's nuclear weapons arsenal by removing Trident from Scotland.
He came under pressure from the SNP after using a major speech to promise that Britain would be at the "forefront" of an international campaign to prevent nuclear proliferation and to accelerate multilateral nuclear disarmament.
Britain currently
has four submarines capable of carrying Trident warheads. The UK government announced last month that plans to extend the life of the missiles until 2042. The Vanguard submarines are based at Faslane, on the Clyde.
Mr Brown, in a speech at Lancaster House in London, said that "Britain stands ready to participate and to act" in global negotiations on reducing the number of nuclear weapons.
He said the UK had cut the number of its nuclear warheads by 50 per cent since 1997, with the total now less than 160.
The government was committed to retaining the "minimum force necessary to maintain effective deterrence", he said.
Mr Brown added: "If it is possible to reduce the number of UK warheads further, consistent with our national deterrence requirements and with the progress of multilateral discussions, Britain will be ready to do so."
Angus Robertson MP, the SNP's leader in Westminster, welcomed the Prime Minister's call "for a world free from nuclear weapons".
He said: "Of course, Gordon Brown could lead by example by scrapping the Trident nuclear weapons system and hyper- expensive plans for its replacement.
"The Scottish people oppose nuclear weapons as do the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government. The time is right to get rid of Trident."
The Prime Minister said all countries had the right to develop nuclear power to help tackle climate change. But he admitted that countries holding nuclear arsenals had no right to lecture others about not developing their own nuclear bombs unless they made efforts to reduce their own reserves.
"As possessor states, we cannot expect to successfully exercise moral and political leadership in preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons if we ourselves do not demonstrate leadership on the question of disarmament of our weapons," he said.
He also used the speech to repeat his warning to Iran that its current nuclear programme was "unacceptable" and left it facing a "clear choice" of tougher sanctions or allowing the United Nations to oversee its schemes.
"It's refusal to play by the rules leads us to view its nuclear programme as a critical proliferation threat," he said.
William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, said the Prime Minister had to act on the illicit trade in nuclear weapons technology and the financing of nuclear weapons.
But he called for stronger European sanctions against Iran for failing to admit international weapons inspectors.
Mr Hague said: "On Iran, we agree with him that Iran has the right to develop civil nuclear power provided that it cooperates fully with the IAEA and complies with the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"The latest report of the UN watchdog on nuclear energy confirms that it is still not possible to rule out the existence of a secret military nuclear weapons programme in Iran.
Des Browne, the former secretary of state for defence and for Scotland, said: "Multilateral nuclear disarmament was given a shot in the arm this morning.
"This welcome restatement of government policy on disarmament and non-proliferation could have been made by Barack Obama.
"The Prime Minister has now committed Britain to a leadership role in the only process that can deliver a world free of nuclear weapons, the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review. Since 1968, global nuclear disarmament has been the main purpose of this treaty," Mr Browne said.
