THE US government plunged deeper yesterday into the row over whether to replace the submarines that carry the ­Trident nuclear missile, ­reiterating its support for ­Britain’s atomic arsenal.

Westminster is preparing to replace its fleet of Vanguard-class nuclear submarines, based at Faslane on the river Clyde, with new vessels to be jointly developed with Washington to carry the existing US-manufactured Trident D5 missile.

The intervention, after the Scottish Parliament voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to call for the scrapping of the Successor programme, recognises the growing opposition to atomic weapons.