INVERCLYDE MP Ronnie Cowan says he will vote against the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system when the vote goes before the House of Commons on Monday.

He attended a CND Stop Trident Parliamentary lobby and has hosted a room in parliament for anti-Trident campaigners to meet MPs.

The SNP man says that spending so much on the system simply cannot be justified and he hopes to rally support against the move.

Mr Cowan said: “With the potential cost of renewing Trident increasing to over £200 billion, it’s clear this would be a wasteful and reckless spend on a weapons programme which is opposed by the overwhelming majority of parliamentarians in Scotland.

“Jobs will be secured at the Clyde naval base by investment in a navy fit for purpose. Spending money on weapons of mass destruction is not an investment in the future, it is an acknowledgement of past fears, instead of future hope. Generations to come shall reap what we sow.”

Mr Cowan believes that the cash which would be spent on Trident could be better used for other purposes.

He told the Tele: “The money going to be squandered would be far better utilised in supporting our NHS and schools.”

Former Prime Minister David Cameron has said Trident is an ‘essential deterrent’ for both Britain’s security and that of Nato.

The system was acquired by the UK in the early 1980s as a replacement for the Polaris missile system, which dated to 60s.

Trident came into use in the 1990s and it consists of three parts – submarines, missiles and warheads.

Although each component has years of use left, they cannot last indefinitely and the current generation of submarines would begin to end their working lives in a decade or so.