THE news that Trident whistleblower William McNeilly is unlikely to face charges is to be welcomed.

He was dishonourably discharged from the navy after claiming the Trident missile programme based at Faslane is a “disaster waiting to happen”.

Had the UK Government decided to press ahead with charges against him it would almost certainly have faced a public backlash.

But the story must not end there. The allegations he posted online, and were first brought to wider public attention by our sister paper the Sunday Herald, are too important to be dismissed. His report included claims of failures of safety testing, lax security and possible fire risk in the submarines.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon says those claims had not been proven, or were wrong, or were the result of misunderstanding. He told the Commons neither the operational effectiveness of the submarines nor the safety of the crews or the public were compromised.

So that’s all right then ... nothing to worry about here.

The seriousness of the allegations deserves a detailed, rigorous reply.

Alex Salmond described Fallon’s response as an “insult to the public’s intelligence’’. Luckily we now have 56 SNP MPs to make sure these claims are not simply swept aside.