The SNP have seized on an opinion poll showing massive opposition to the Labour government wasting cash on a new generation of nuclear weapons, and have called on the UK government to focus cuts on ‘white elephant’ projects like Trident and ID cards - and rule out real terms cuts by the Labour government in Scottish spending.

The ComRes poll for The Independent showed that the public overwhelmingly wants the government to scrap the Trident nuclear missile system and believes spending on health and education should be protected and rise each year.

Commenting, the SNP’s Glasgow Central candidate Osama Saeed said: "Labour have been trying to portray the upcoming General Election as a choice between them and the Tories. In reality there is very little choice between the two, and it is the SNP that offer fresh and relevant ideas.

"It is incoherent for both those parties to be laying out what cuts they want to make to public spending while maintaining they will restock the Clyde with a new generation of weapons of mass destruction.

"The SNP have a simple suggestion for Alistair Darling to cut his spending - abandon plans to spend £25 billion on a nuclear missile system we do not want or need and the vast majority do not want.

"We are also calling on Labour to completely drop their proposals to spend billions on unwanted and unnecessary ID cards."

Note:

The ComRes poll can be found here.

By a margin of 58 to 35 per cent, people believe that the £25bn renewal of the Trident programme should be abandoned because of the state of the public finances. The finding will strengthen the hand of ministers who are pressing Gordon Brown to cancel or delay the scheme as Labour prepares to unveil public spending.