Brown to make pledge to cut back on Trident.

GORDON Brown will today signal his readiness to scale back Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent as part of an international deal to dramatically cut the world's nuclear arsenal.

The Prime Minister is expected to tell world leaders meeting this week at the United Nations in New York that he is prepared to consider cutting the UK's fleet of Trident missile-carrying submarines from four to three.

His offer comes as US President Barack Obama is pressing ahead with ambitious plans for international talks to halt the spread of nuclear weapons and reduce existing stockpiles.

In his address today to the UN General Assembly, Mr Brown will call for all nations to come together to achieve the ambition of a nuclear-free world.

"If we are serious about the ambition of a nuclear-free world we will need statesmanship, not brinkmanship," he will say. He will then spell out the details of his offer at a special session of the UN Security Council, summoned by Mr Obama, on disarmament, covering the planned pounds 20 billion Trident programme.

Critics say the reduction will make little difference to the UK's overall capability and may well have happened anyway as ministers look to cut costs.