Campaigners accused the government of deceiving taxpayers yesterday as dodgy new backroom Trident replacement deal was revealed.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) denounced David Cameron’s Cabinet for signing a new contract despite parliamentary discussions on whether to replace the nuclear programme taking place in a year’s time.

The group’s general secretary Kate Hudson said: “We now have a £37 million contract which the government didn’t tell us about, placed without parliamentary authorisation, for nuclear missile tubes that the government told us wouldn’t exist.”

“However you cut it, this is pre-empting a parliamentary decision on Trident replacement — a £100 billion decision on a cold war weapons system which many senior military figures say is absolutely useless.”

British taxpayers are to foot the bill for 12 Trident missile launch tubes for a “successor” submarine bought from US arms dealer General Dynamics.

In previous years defence ministers insisted they would reduce the number of submarine missiles from 12 to eight.

The then disarmament ambassador John Duncan told the UN in 2010 that Britain would “configure the next generation of submarines.”

But according to CND, the recent purchase signs to a continuation of previous policies.

“The government must now explain whether it has misled the public and the international community over the reduction in capacity of the UK’s nuclear-armed submarines, or whether it’s just squandered public money on missile tubes which will remain empty,” added Ms Hudson.

“Those really are the only two options: grand deception or gross ineptitude.”