Ahead of a House of Commons vote on the issue in the coming week, 64 backbench Labour MPs polled by BBC Radio were against Blair's plans to renew the ageing Trident system, out of 101 Labour MPs surveyed.

A further 15 still undecided, while 22 backed the government's proposals.

Blair's Labour government has a parliamentary majority of 67, with a total of 352 MPs in the House of Commons.

But while the issue has proved divisive within his own party, Blair is unlikely to be rebuffed because the main opposition Conservatives have said they agreed with his position "on substance and on timing."

The leader of the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats has pledged to oppose the proposals in their current form, and has pushed for the upcoming vote to be delayed in favour of more debate.

Blair unveiled plans to modernise Britain's nuclear arsenal in December, including a new generation of nuclear submarines, at a cost of up to 20 billion pounds (29.5 billion euros, 38.7 billion dollars).

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