A summit is to be held next month with the aim of putting pressure on Westminster to scrap plans to renew Trident nuclear weapons.

The Scottish Government is organising the event, that will involve civic leaders, church organisations, trade union officials and other interested groups. It follows a vote in the Scottish Parliament in June that called on Whitehall to ditch its renewal plans.

Bruce Crawford, the Minister for Parliamentary Business, told said the summit was a chance for Scots to discuss whether the country should have a non-nuclear future.

He said: "The aim is to bring together interested parties and representatives of civic Scotland to discuss the impact new weapons of mass destruction would have on Scotland, and to ask how a Scotland without nuclear weapons would look.

"All the polling evidence says the people of Scotland are against Trident renewal, the parliament has voted against it, and so we're following through the wishes of the parliament."

The minister also hinted there would be other occasions when the government will seek to win more powers from Westminster to allow Holyrood to legislate more quickly on specific matters. The process is known as a "reverse Sewel" and has never happened in the eight years of devolution.

One current example is on the subject of airguns, where the Scottish Government is seeking an agreement from Westminster to allow it to take control of firearms legislation.

Mr Crawford said: "It's not so much about where the power lies, it's more about getting the right powers.

"If we could do it quicker here, that should be the preferred approach."