DEFENCE Secretary Sir Michael fallon has reaffirmed the UK's commitment to nuclear weapons saying that they are needed in the face of threats from a "reckless" North Korea and "aggressive" Russia.
Sir Michael spoke out after travelling HMS Naval base Clyde, where the submarine fleet is based, to hold global security talks with Nato's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and ambassadors from the of the North Atlantic Council (NAC).
He said the UK would continue to play a leading role in Nato's deterrence missions, emphasising the £1.3 billion investment planned for the base over the next ten years.
Sir Michael said: "Our nuclear deterrent remains our only defence against the most extreme threats to our way of life.
"Those threats are intensifying whether they come from North Korea’s latest nuclear testing setting off a hydrogen bomb, launching ballistic missiles and reinforcing her reckless defiance of the international community.
"Or Russia, which not content with aggression in Ukraine and Crimea, has over the last few years repeatedly ramped up its nuclear rhetoric and in its latest exercise involving some 50,000 troops massed on the borders of Eastern Europe will also test nuclear capable ballistic missiles."
However, he added that Ministers are still "committed" to a world without nuclear weapons and that he intended to press on with reductions to those stockpiled in the UK.
Sir Michael also criticised the SNP's anti-nuclear stance, saying: "Their position seems very confusing. They want to join NATO, but NATO is a nuclear alliance.
"The nuclear deterrent keeps the UK safe and keeps Scotland safe."
Mr Stoltenberg said: "I welcome the UK's strong contribution to Nato, from its commitment to defence investment to its operational deployments.
"The nuclear forces of the Alliance, including those at Clyde Naval Base, are the supreme guarantee of the security of allied countries and populations."
The base on the Clyde has been home to the submarine based nuclear deterrent for five decades, with investment planned to update and upgrade its engineering and training facilities.
It will be home to the entire UK submarine service by 2020, with the number of jobs it supports expected to rise from 6,800 to 8,500 in the 2030s.
The NAC's visit included a tour of a UK Vanguard class deterrent submarine and the base's Trident training facility.
Submariner Lieutenant Commander Chisholm, a Vanguard engineer, said that people often underestimate the commitment needed to keep the weapons system viable.
He said: "These are among the most complex machines ever devised by mankind. When they patrol there are 160 members of crew onboard and they do not surface until the mission has ended.
"My daughter is three-years-old and this will be the first time I've been here for her birthday. There is a human side to all this."
He added: "We know that if the weapons are ever fired then we will have failed. That is what deterrence means."
Ambassadors also toured a Royal Navy frigate taking part in Exercise Joint Warrior, the UK-led multinational exercise due to begin on Sunday which has its operational headquarters on the Clyde.
One of the largest military exercises of its kind in Europe, it brings together 35 naval units from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain and the US, as well as aircraft from Canada, France, Norway, the UK and US.
The visit came a day after Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon reaffirmed her commitment to removing nuclear missiles from Scotland.
Speaking at Holyrood, she said: "I want to see a world free of nuclear weapons and I think that countries such as the United Kingdom should lead by example.
"Instead of spending tens of billions of pounds on a new generation of Trident nuclear missiles, we should get rid of Trident nuclear missiles from the Clyde.
"We will continue to support action for unilateral nuclear disarmament because, if countries lead by example, the world will be a safer place in the long term as a result."
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