Labour rules out scrapping plans to replace missiles in return for SNP support

Labour would not scrap plans to replace the UK's nuclear missile force as part of the price for the Scottish National Party's support after the May elections, a top Labour figure said.

Riding high in the polls in Scotland, the SNP has urged voters to abandon Labour, saying that it will be the one to secure a better deal for Scots.

A decision has to be taken next year about replacing the Royal Navy's existing fleet of Trident nuclear-armed submarines, based at Faslane on the Clyde. Former SNP leader Alex Salmond said a formal coalition pact with Labour was "unlikely", but he held the door open to the possibility that the SNP would support Labour in House of Commons votes in return for concessions. One of the prices for support would be to scrap plans to replace the Trident missiles, he said. "We say we should not do that, particularly at a time when the Conservative party, the Labour party, are suggesting another £30 billion of austerity cuts in health and education and things that really matter. Now that's the vital vote," he told Sky News.

Position on Trident

Labour’s

Douglas Alexander

, a likely foreign secretary in a Labour administration, insisted Labour would not bow to the SNP’s demands. “The responsibility of defending this country is not something that is the subject of simply trading away interests one way or another. Our position on Trident is very clear and I’m not changing it,” he said.

Besides scrapping the Trident plan, the SNP wants full tax powers devolved to Edinburgh and a reversal of spending cuts. The scale of the SNP’s demands leads Alexander and others in Westminster to believe the SNP has no interest in any form of post-election deal with Labour.

Salmond's replacement as SNP leader and Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, last week insisted she would lead post-election talks with other parties, just days after Salmond said he would be the one to do so. Alexander said he believed Sturgeon wanted a Conservative-led administration as that would lead to an in-out EU membership referendum – giving Scottish nationalists a chance to call for a second independence referendum.