LAST week, the UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said it would be "naive or reckless" not to have a like-for-like replacement of the UK's Trident nuclear weapons system. Given the base's proximity of Faslane to Dumbarton and the Vale and the number of people employed there, we asked you what your thoughts were. Here's what you had to say: GEORGE RUSSELL: Everyone knows somone who works in the base.

ROBERT SANCHEZ: We don't need nuclear weapons. Other towns survive without military bases, Helensburgh will too.

JIM MCCALLUM: Scare mongering that's all it is, Scotland has never and will never need nuclear weapons. Do you really think anybody is that daft to nuke Scotland without any other country stepping in. For a start Scotland wants a nuclear free zone and has done for years give us independence and be done with it.

CRISTIANO SABIU: I just read his comments, I find them to be mostly scaremongering. Particularly "In a world which is getting more, not less, dangerous, it is clear ... that there are no alternatives to the current Trident system". That is a totally unsubstantiated statement. Nuclear weapons are a relic of the Cold War era and have little or no public support.

But whether or not trident is replaced, like-for-like or whatever, if a future independent Scotland decides to ditch this nuclear deterrent, then I guess peoples jobs will be a jeopardy anyway. Is this right, or did I miss something?

KELLYANNE TRUMAN: Too many jobs will be at risk if Faslane is shut down and surely securing each individual's financial future is more important!

ANDREW C MCALLISTER: If Faslane goes that will be a huge blow to the area and lots of jobs lost. I'm not a fan of nukes but it's keeping people in jobs.

KATHLEEN KERR: We have lived with Faslane, Coulport and Glen Douglas - not sure if it's still open - for at least 40 years as I worked in all three in my twenties. The world has not come to an end, the Cold War is long gone. It brings much needed work to the West of Scotland. Keep the base.