A GROWING number of celebrities and cultural figures have expressed solidarity with crowds marching through London today to call for an end to Trident.

Actors Vanessa Redgrave, Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds and comedian Francesca Martinez will address the Trafalgar Square rally, while Massive Attack and hip-hop group Young Fathers have called on their supporters to attend the demo.

Plaid Cymru leader Leanne Wood, who will address the rally, warned that it is “never, ever justifiable to unleash weapons of mass destruction on any population, under any circumstances.”

Ms Wood branded it a “a disgrace” that billions should be spent on renewing Trident “when foodbank use is at a record high, when the gap between the richest and the poorest is at its widest and when our NHS needs ever greater investment.”

She called on nuclear weapons to be “thrown into the dustbin of history.”

Green MP Caroline Lucas will call for an end to the “outrageously expensive cold war relic,” warning that Trident actually “increases the risks to our safety and security.”

She said that Britain needed no half measures and said that “any suggestion of downgrading our arsenal but keeping the ability to launch weapons of mass destruction simply isn’t good enough.”

Ms Lucas called for “a firm commitment from all anti-Trident politicians to a Britain completely free from the ability to launch nuclear weapons.”

Comedian Jeremy Hardy, who will speak at the event, said: “I’m opposed to Trident because it’s based on this idea of mutually assured destruction.”

He said: “In order to keep us safe you’ve got to be insane enough to use a nuclear weapon and the other person’s got to be insane enough as well. But neither of you have got to be so insane that you actually use it. So you’ve only got to be insane enough to be prepared to use it but not quite insane enough to actually use it.

“And so long as we just keep that balance of insanity absolutely perfect and equal on all sides we’ll be fine. Sounds like a good gamble to me.”

It is believed that the Tories could call a snap-vote on the decision as early as next month, in a bid to block growing anti-nuclear weapons sentiment among the population and within the Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has also been confirmed as a speaker.