Weapons not included in Trident pledge

BRITAIN will not reduce the number of nuclear warheads it holds despite a pledge to cut the number of Trident submarines, Gordon Brown said yesterday.

The Prime Minister said that there would be no proposals to further cut the country's arsenal of nuclear weapons, which has a been reduced from 200 to 160 under the Labour government.

And the UK will only consider reductions in the number of submarines as part of a multilateral deal, Downing Street confirmed.

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Church leaders attacked the move last night as a "feeble and ineffective" gesture, saying that ministers should have had the courage to dump the 20 billion Trident project entirely.

Speaking before an address to the UN General Assembly in New York yesterday, Mr Brown said his offer to cut the number of submarines was part of a "global bargain" aimed at persuading non-nuclear states to hold back from entering an arms race. "We face a race for nuclear weapons if we do not act now." He added: "We are looking at the number of submarines and will continue to look at that in detail. We are making no proposals at the moment about warheads."

He added: "In the spirit of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, we nuclear weapons powers have got to make some steps towards greater reductions in nuclear weapons. Just as America and Russia are making those reductions, we are prepared to consider that, but only as part of an agreement."

The Church of Scotland said it welcomed Mr Brown's declaration yesterday but a joint statement from the Methodist, Baptist and United Reform Churches said it made "little sense" to continue with the Trident programme.

They warned: "With health and education expenditure under great pressure, public support for Trident is evaporating fast."

However, former defence secretary John Hutton said the UK could "rue the day" if it opted to disarm completely.

He added: "Any gesture on arms control has got to fit within a proper framework of multilateral arms reductions."

Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary David Miliband dismissed suggestions that the move was motivated by the need to cut the government's financial deficit.