PARLIAMENT was plunged back into cold war paranoia yesterday as Defence Minister Michael Fallon justified Tory plans for Trident renewal with “North Korean” logic.

Mr Fallon insisted Britain must spent £100 billion more on nuclear bombs to face down threats from Moscow, Pyongyang and Tehran.

He claimed: “We have to plan for a major direct nuclear threat to this country or our Nato allies that might emerge over the next 50 years.

“The nuclear deterrent is the only assured way to deter nuclear threats. It is the ultimate guarantor of our freedom and independence”

Tearing apart the Tory logic, SNP MP Angus Robertson described his argument as “very dangerous.”

And he pointed out: “It’s the same argument that’s run by the North Korean regime that believes it needs nuclear weapons to protect itself.”

The throwback to the nuclear 1980s came as MPs debated an SNP and Plaid Cymru motion against £100bn Trident renewal plans.

It came ahead of Saturday’s demonstration against the nuclear missiles system that Margaret Thatcher brought to Britain as she joined in the US arms race with the Soviet Union.

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament general secretary Kate Hudson said yesterday that Trident should be condemned to the history books.

She told the Star: “The world has moved on, but it is lamentable that the cold war mentality clings stubbornly to Britain’s political elite.

“So much so that when presented with a choice between plugging a £2bn funding gap for the NHS this year or spending £3bn running our Trident system, it is the NHS which is left to wrack and ruin.”

The government splurged the £3bn procuring parts, such as missile compartments, for new submarines and hopes to sign the cheque for the full order in the next Parliament.

Mr Robertson challenged Mr Fallon to tell the public “in what circumstances they are prepared to justify the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children?”

He described Trident as a “false priority” with cuts to ground and air defences and Britain facing new and diverse threats from terror groups.

The minister and Tory MPs whipped up old fears over a Russian nuclear attack to justify their policy.

Hampshire Tory Dr Julian Lewis even claimed “there is no guarantee that we cannot move back into a cold war.”

But former CND chair and current Labour MP Joan Ruddock hit back in the Commons.

She said: “Too many politicians in this country remain locked in cold war thinking when much of the world has moved on.”

She was among at least a dozen Labour MPs expected to defy their whips and vote against Trident renewal.

But shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker expressed Labour’s commitment to renewing Britain’s nuclear submarine fleet if the party wins power in May.

lukejames@peoples-press.com