A shadow defence minister has demanded a peer apologise to Faslane workers after he compared Trident's base to the Auschwitz Nazi death camp .
Plaid peer Lord Wigley was accused of making "offensive" comments only a day after the world marked 70 years since the end of the Holocaust.
Lord Wigley had been commenting on reports, denied by No 10, that Trident could be moved from Scotland to Wales.
He said he opposed the relocation adding: "Look, this week we have been remembering what happened in Germany before the war, no doubt there were many jobs provided in Auschwitz and places like that but that didn't justify their existence and neither does nuclear weapons justify having them in Pembrokeshire."
Challenged on why he was comparing the base to the death camp, he replied: "The number of people that will be killed by Trident will be infinitely more."
In a statement later, Lord Wigley said: "I am certainly sorry if my remarks were open to any misinterpretation and I apologise for any offence that has been caused.
"The point I was trying to make was that you can't have jobs at any cost and I reiterate that."
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was "appropriate" that LOrd has apologised, adding it was "not language I would have used or comparison I'd make".
Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said the comments were "offensive".
He warned that trivialising tragedy "increases the risk that something like (Auschwitz) could happen again".
He added: "It's offensive to our servicemen and servicewomen who work there (at Faslane) - and that's bad enough.
"But it really is offensive towards the people who suffered and died in Auschwitz.
"It tells you a lot about the attitudes that you get from people whose judgment seems to go out of the window when a topic like this comes into play. It's not a rational position.
"The whole point is Auschwitz's place in history is because of the people who died there and not the people that worked there.
"And if you trivialise that - and that is trivialising it - then you increase the risk that something like that could happen again.
"There are some things that shouldn't be used in day-to-day politics and Holocaust memorial is one of them."
Labour's Gemma Doyle has written to Lord Wigley calling on him to apologise to the Faslane workforce.
Around 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz between 1940 and 1945.
The SNP strongly opposes the renewal of Trident, but the UK Government has dismissed reports that the Ministry of Defence is making contingency plans for the weapons to be relocated from Scotland to Wales.
Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman said: "There are no plans whatsoever. It is not on the table at all."
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