MICHAEL FALLON was accused of flouting democracy yesterday after announcing a further £642 million spend on Trident submarines.

The Defence Secretary told MPs in a written statement that he is pressing ahead with work to replace the four ageing Vanguard-class submarines.Parliament is due to vote on replacing the wasteful weapons system later this year.

The announcement included investment on “long lead” items for the first of the new boats and funding for facilities at the shipyard in Barrow.

Other elements of the programme expected to be covered by the announcement include work on the missile compartments which will house the nuclear weapons.

Mr Fallon is expected to use his appearance at the Scottish Tory conference in Edinburgh today to attack Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s outspoken opposition to Trident replacement.

CND general secretary Kate Hudson condemned the move as undemocratic and nonsensical.

“I ask Michael Fallon: ‘What is the point of a parliamentary vote on Trident if the government’s going to spend millions on replacement anyway?’ ” she said.

“This is completely unacceptable. This is about huge amounts of money being spent on out-of-date technology that will be redundant by the time it is built.

“There is a growing body of evidence which shows that Trident is vulnerable to cyber warfare and attacks by underwater drones.

“The government appears to be burying its head in the sand — stuck in a 1980s mind-set that we are a great power fighting in the cold war.”

Nicola Sturgeon insisted during First Minister’s Questions yesterday that Faslane could continue as a naval base without nuclear weapons.

Her comments come after the GMB union warned it is “pie in the sky” to believe the current highly paid and skilled jobs can be maintained

.Last week the union held a special conference on the issue in Newcastle where members vowed to campaign to fight to keep the Trident replacement to protect jobs in the industry.

But Scotland’s First Minister insisted that the £167 billion spent on renewing Trident could be put towards supporting conventional defence jobs and public services.