Britain prepared to cut nuclear arsenal as part of arms deal

Britain could cut the number of nuclear warheads it holds as part of global arms reduction deal, Gordon Brown has said.

The Prime Minister hinted at fresh reductions in Britain's arsenal as he repeated an offer to help Iran develop a civil nuclear power capacity in exchange for agreeing not to develop nuclear arms.

Despite plans to replace the Trident nuclear deterrent with a new system of submarine-based missiles, Britain is already committed to reducing its nuclear weapons.

In the 2006 White Paper confirming the decision to replace Trident, the Government committed itself to cutting the number of operational nuclear warheads to less than 160, almost half the total in 1997.

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