A former defence secretary has warned the UK Government's Trident review risks showing other countries how to create their own nuclear weapons system "on the cheap".
Lord Browne said the inquiry could accelerate the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
It follows the Labour peer's call earlier this week for the UK to scrap the policy which keeps its nuclear deterrent at sea 24 hours a day.
However, Lord Browne warned that its other recommendations could result in unintended consequences and leave the world a much more dangerous place.
"I don't think it is the role of British politicians to find a cheaper way of creating a nuclear weapons system," he said. "The danger is we are creating a blueprint for proliferation.
"The last thing we want is to tell other countries around the world they can have a nuclear weapon system on the cheap".
The Liberal Democrats argue a scaled-back alternative to the ageing Trident system would still be "credible". The Tories favour a full-scale replacement and Labour have agreed.
A Cabinet Office spokesman insisted the Coalition would "complete and publish" the review of alternatives to Trident.
"The purpose of the study is to help the Liberal Democrats make the case for alternatives to the Trident system, as agreed in the Coalition Programme for Government.
"Our policy on nuclear deterrence is absolutely clear and remains as set out in the Strategic Defence and Security Review."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article