CLAIMS have been made that security at Faslane will be weakened if there are further cuts to the service that provides guards for the nuclear submarine base.

Eamon Keating, Chairman of the Defence Police Federation, made the claim just weeks after William McNeilly, a Royal Navy submariner, raised concerns over Trident safety, saying the nuclear missile programme was a "disaster waiting to happen".

UK ministers are preparing to make further savings within the Ministry of Defence police force in its strategic defence and security review(SDSR).

Since 2010, the force has lost more than a third of its officers, who now number 2600.

Stressing how the MDP wishes to engage with the Government in a positive and constructive way, Mr Keating, nonetheless, will urge Ministers in a keynote speech to resist changes to security that "prioritise cost over threat".

He will warn: "The wrong decisions in the next six to 12 months will undermine officers, put the future of the MDP in jeopardy and, ultimately, reduce the security of the MoD's assets and personnel, not to mention the safety of the public."

At the federation's annual conference in Renfrew, the chairman will say there will only be two results of further cuts to the MDP's size and budget: MoD assets will be "less rather than more safe" and that, if it becomes necessary to increase security at a site, then the MoD "will be sorely lacking in resources".

Mr Keating will claim the MDP is operating at beyond its limits.

He will add: "The reality is that it would be impossible for the MDP to meet its current responsibilities if our numbers are reduced further."

He said this would be to the MoD's "detriment" as it would lose "security capabilities, presence in local communities" and among others, vital intelligence.