BRITAIN still needs nuclear weapons even though the main threat today is from international terrorists, John Reid, the Defence Secretary, told MPs yesterday.

He said that although nuclear weapons were not a deterrent against terrorism it did not follow that they were no longer necessary.

Appearing before the Commons Defence Committee for the first time since becoming Defence Secretary, Mr Reid said that the Government needed to look decades ahead to judge what the greatest threats would be, and that it was important to keep a range of weapon systems to counter them.

For as long as there were countries potentially hostile to Britain that acquired nuclear weapons, “we’ll retain ours”, he said.

The issue of Britain’s long-range Trident ballistic missile deterrent was raised by the defence committee because of indications that the Government planned to decide on a replacement system during the present Parliament.

Mr Reid said that it was not necessary to make the decision during this Parliament but added that it would be “highly desirable” and that discussions about “the nature of the future threats” were already under way. “We face a range of threats at this moment, running from individual acts of terrorism through to nuclear threats,” he said.

The four Trident ballistic missile submarines are expected to remain in service until at least 2020. But decisions on a replacement have to be made years in advance because of the long time it takes to develop and build a delivery system and warhead capable of deterring potential enemies for another 20 or 30 years beyond 2020.

Mr Reid reminded MPs that Britain’s Trident system was an “absolute minimum” deterrent: only one submarine was ever out on patrol and it never carried more than 48 warheads.

The Government was also ready to put Trident into disarmament negotiations once the Russians and the Americans agreed to reduce their nuclear weapons stocks below a certain level.

However, other countries — India, Pakistan and North Korea — had acquired nuclear weapons, and “more worrying, some countries have been trying to develop nuclear weapons by deceiving the world, not complying with their obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, for instance Iran”.

Mr Reid told the MPs: “I think it would be naive to believe that there will be no further proliferation.”

He confirmed that the options for a replacement deterrent did not exclude turning to a ground-based or airborne nuclear weapon system.

Britain’s original long-range nuclear deterrent was carried by the RAF’s Victor, Vulcan and Valiant bombers in the 1950s. The Royal Navy’s Polaris ballistic missile submarines came into service in 1968, the HMS Resolution making the first deterrent patrol. The Polaris missile was upgraded secretly with a Chevaline multiple warhead in the early 1970s.

Mr Reid said that, historically, two thirds of Britons supported having a nuclear deterrent.

Britain used to have shorter-range nuclear weapons as well: Royal Navy depth bombs and RAF freefall WE177 bombs. But they were dismantled, leaving Trident as the sole deterrent.

VANGUARD FACTS

The Government is committed, however, to sending each patrol out with no more than 48 warheads

The four Vanguard class submarines that came into service in the 1990s displace 16,000 tonnes and are nearly 490ft long. They carry a crew of more than 130

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth