Labour Party leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn says he will not renew the UK’s nuclear missile program if he becomes prime minister.

“As a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Britain should therefore give a lead in discharging its obligations by not seeking a replacement for Trident, as we are committed to accelerate concrete progress towards nuclear disarmament,” Corbyn said in a statement published on Thursday.

“Senior military figures have described our existing nuclear weapons as ‘militarily useless’ and our possession of them encourages other countries to seek a similar arsenal while undermining the efforts being made to advance the cause of international nuclear disarmament,” he added.

Corbyn made the call for UK nuclear disarmament at the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament commemoration event in London.

The anti-austerity Labour Party front-runner also unveiled his plan for UK’s nuclear disarmament on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the United States which claimed some 140,000 lives.

Some critics believe that renewing the nuclear missile program is unnecessary with many Britons living under austerity.

“Many people in Britain question why after slashing social services (the government) is spending huge amount of money on nuclear missiles,” the London-based political commentator Chris Bambery told Press TV’s UK Desk on Friday.

He also ruled out the possibility of discarding the nuclear deterrent “unless there is radical change in the British government and Britain’s foreign policy.”

The Ministry of Defence has already announced that replacing Trident with four new submarines would cost about £20bn at 2006 prices, which is about £25bn at current prices.

The figure includes the maintenance cost which is estimated to stand between £1.7bn and £2.1bn a year.