The Ministry of Defence has denied it has agreed to spend £3bn on new nuclear warheads, despite documents revealing a senior official told the arms industry a decision had already been made.

According to the 2006 White Paper on the future of the country's nuclear deterrent, any decision on whether to replace the warheads will not be made until the next Parliament.

But documents released to a newspaper following a Freedom of Information request revealed comments made by David Gould, the then-chief operating officer at the Defence Equipment and Support Organisation, stating the warheads would be replaced.

The newspaper reports Mr Gould said: "This afternoon we are going to outline our plan to maintain the UK's nuclear deterrent.

"The intention is to replace the entire Vanguard class submarine system. Including the warhead and missile."

His comments were made at a future deterrent industry day event in June 2007.

When the "speaking notes" of the event were initially released, officials blanked out the final sentence referring to the warheads, the newspaper says, but the decision was overturned on appeal and the pivotal sentence was reinstated.

But an MoD spokesman said a decision had not been made and was likely to be necessary in the next Parliament.

"We are undertaking a detailed review of the optimum life of the existing warhead stockpile and analysing the range of replacement options that might be available. No decisions have yet been taken", said the spokesman.

"Decisions on a successor to the life extended D5 missile are not expected for some time and the new submarines are expected to remain in service beyond the current planned life of these missiles."

The Government committed to reducing its arsenal of Trident warheads by 20 per cent in December 2006's White Paper The Future of the United Kingdom's Nuclear Deterrent.

Anti-nuclear campaigners say the documents "destroy any remaining credibility" in the claim that no decision on new warheads has been made.

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