The Church of Scotland has expressed its continued opposition to weapons of mass destruction after Prime Minister Tony Blair outlined plans on Monday to spend up to £20bn on a new generation of submarines for Trident missiles, telling MPs it would be "unwise and dangerous" to give up nuclear weapons.

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the Rt Rev Alan McDonald, and the convener of the Church & Society Council, Morag Mylne responded earlier in the week by urging the government to allow a free vote on the issues and calling on individual MPs to use that vote against Trident.

Morag Mylne said: "The decision on whether or not to replace Trident is a unique opportunity to change the way the world thinks. It appears from its White Paper, that HMG is determined not to take this opportunity - and to keep spending obscene sums of money on a defence system that has no conceivable use."

Rev McDonald continued: "The Church of Scotland has for quarter of a century held the view that Trident should be scrapped, and that view has certainly not been changed by any recent events. Maintaining a nuclear weapons system, with its potential to cause gross and indiscriminate suffering, is morally and theologically wrong.

Rev McDonald called on politicians to vote against Trident renewal.

He said: "We sincerely hope that MPs will see the irrelevance of Trident to the modern world, and vote to rid the United Kingdom of its weapons of mass destruction, and will be responding to the Consultation to say so."

Morag Mylne concluded: "We also hope that all parties represented in the House of Commons will trust their members sufficiently to allow a free vote on this issue of personal conscience and moral importance."