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SCOTLAND could employ an extra 2700 teachers or 3300 nurses if we got rid of Trident, startling new figures have revealed.

Research from Holyrood has highlighted alternative uses for the estimated £1billion cost of the controversial nuclear defence system to Scottish taxpayers over the next decade.

The Parliament’s neutral research unit carried out the work after it emerged the sum will be needed over the ten years.

It is Scotland’s share of the £13billion the UK Government have earmarked for “maintaining the Trident strategic weapons system” over the period.

The figure amounts to 18 per cent of the Ministry of Defence’s £72billion equipment support programme.

Parliament officials also calculate the money could instead be spent on building 125 primary schools or 40 high schools or community hospitals.

The nuclear submarines based on the Clyde have become a key issue in the independence debate.

First Minister Alex Salmond hopes to attract the votes of the anti-nuclear lobby by insisting a Yes vote is the simplest way to get rid of the weapons.

The issue will be debated at Holyrood next week.

But Labour MPS Jackie Baillie, whose constituency includes the Faslane base, said getting rid of Trident would wreck the local economy.

She said: “The nationalists have more faces than the town clock when it comes to this issue.”