Labour rejected Conservative claims it was planning to do a deal with the SNP over Trident after a shadow minister said that he wanted to "get rid" of the nuclear deterrent.

Party sources said that Owen Smith was merely re-stating long standing party policy and was clearly saying he backed the renewal of the ageing weapons system on the Clyde.

Mr Smith was quoted as saying: "Labour is in favour of multilateral disarmament, that's always been our policy. But our policy is not to unilaterally disarm.

"We view the world as being a very dangerous and volatile place at the moment.

"We view it being a mistake to contemplate getting rid of our nuclear deterrent. So our policy is that we will retain Trident, we will maintain a continuous at sea deterrent."

He added: "So we will pursue an independent perspective, the next Labour government, but on the issue of Trident: would but we could get rid of it, but I fear that we can't."

The Conservatives said that his comments showed that Labour would do a deal with the SNP on the issue.

A Conservative Party spokesman said: 'Labour's masked has slipped."

Labour's shadow defence secretary Vernon Coaker insisted that Labour would "not do a deal" with the SNP on Trident or any other defence issue.

A Labour spokesperson said: " As Owen's comments make abundantly clear, he supports Labour's policy of renewing Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent as a continuous at-sea system."

In a speech to the Royal United Services Institute, Mr Coaker also said said his party could not guarantee the Nato target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence.