LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn has said he will work with the SNP to oppose the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons programme.

The newly elected leader has been an outspoken critic of nuclear weapons, as have the SNP – with the future of Trident playing a key role in last year’s Scottish independence referendum.

Corbyn said he would like to see nuclear defence jobs at Faslane transferred to other forms of “high-value engineering”.

He told BBC Scotland: “I think Trident should go. I do not believe it is something that anyone in their proper mind would ever want to use.

“So I ask the question is it really sensible to commit such a vast proportion of our assets – £100 billion over 25 years – to this when we could be spending it on developing our industrial infrastructure?”

Labour is to hold an open debate on Trident at its conference next month and Scottish party leader Kezia Dugdale has said the winning argument will become the position of the Scottish Labour Party.

The SNP welcomed Corbyn’s comments, but said “deep divisions” within Labour on the issue will emerge at the party conference.

Defence spokesman Brendan O’Hara said: “Labour have an opportunity to join a progressive alliance against the immoral, obscene and completely redundant weapons of mass destruction that Westminster continues to dump on the Clyde.”

“The people of Scotland sent a clear message to Westminster in May; we simply will not accept a new generation of these weapons.’’

Last month, Scottish political leaders accused George Osborne of “pre-empting” the vote on the future of nuclear weapons by preparing the Faslane naval base for the renewal of Trident.

It came after Osborne announced a £500 million investment in the Clyde base that was designed ‘’partly to ready Faslane for Trident’s replacement’’.

Meanwhile, Dugdale said Corbyn will be appearing in Scotland “quite a lot” over the coming weeks.

Corbyn is yet to travel north of the border after being elected as UK Labour leader a fortnight ago.

The UK leader has indicated he plans to be a frequent visitor as the party campaigns ahead of the Scottish elections next year.

Speaking at an event in Edinburgh, Dugdale said: “You will see Jeremy Corbyn in Scotland quite a lot over the next few weeks.”

She added: “He knows that I am the leader of the Scottish Labour Party but together we will work to build that fairer, more equal country.”

The Scottish leader had previously said the election of Corbyn could leave Labour “carping on the sidelines” for years.

Dugdale has stated her politics are not “wildly different” to his and has pledged to work with him in the Holyrood campaign.

She will make her first conference speech as Scottish leader when Labour members gather in Brighton from Sunday.

She said: “I think what you will see is a healthy democratic conference from Jeremy Corbyn, a big speech, yes, but also lots of of big debates where party members can share their views.”

SNP MSP Sandra White said: “Jeremy Corbyn is welcome in Scotland, but he leads a deeply divided party, and if he is not able to show that he can beat the Tories then more and more people will become convinced that independence is the only alternative to Westminster Tory governments that Scotland didn’t vote for.

“When he visits Scotland, I hope he can explain why he voted against the Scottish Parliament controlling National Insurance and why he didn’t even turn up to vote for the devolution of Housing Benefit.

“He does have the opportunity to correct things by pledging support for the devolution of trade union legislation, ensuring workers in Scotland are not covered by the draconian labour laws proposed by the Tories.”