CARDENDEN and Kinglassie MP Peter Grant has supported calls for the Prime Minister to come clean over when she first knew about a malfunction in a Trident missile.

It emerged at the weekend that one of the missiles, designed to carry Britain's nuclear weapons, had gone off course during a test last summer and had directed itself thousands of miles from its intended "target".

The incident happened shortly before MPs were asked to agree to spend £200 billion to replace Trident.

MP for Glenrothes and Central Fife, Mr Grant said: "Obviously it's a serious business if any missile goes off course but this was a missile designed to carry nuclear weapons.

"It would be unthinkable for the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary not to have been told about this but they said nothing to Parliament during the debate on renewing Trident.

"The Prime Minister is still refusing point blank to say when she knew."

Mr Grant added, "I voted against Trident because I believe it's morally wrong to use or threaten to use weapons to kill millions of unarmed civilians.

"I accept that some MPs believe that Trident has a deterrent value that outweighs these moral arguments. They might have changed their minds if they had been told there were serious doubts as to whether the missiles actually worked.

"A missile that misses its target by thousands of miles is unlikely to deter anybody."