JEREMY Corbyn's proposal to scrap the Trident nuclear weapons programme would potentially result in thousands of Scottish workers employed in the industry moving to "socially productive" jobs in renewable energy, railways and housing.

The leftwing Labour leadership candidate insists his proposal is for a "careful strategy - backed by investment - to ensure a just transition as part of an industrial policy committed to more high-skill manufacturing jobs".

Attending an Hiroshima memorial event in London, the MP for Islington North called for an end to the UK's nuclear deterrent and said the billions of pounds saved should be invested in green energy and to help "the problems of poverty and destruction".

In his policy document on defence diversification, Mr Corbyn notes how it is estimated the £2 billion a year Trident programme sustains 11,000 jobs. Because decommissioning the deterrent would take 60 years to complete, he explains the programme would sustain many jobs for decades to come and other defence sector roles would be maintained through better procurement policies. But he stresses: "The National Investment Bank, working with government departments, should have the mandate to invest to ensure that skilled manufacturing and construction jobs in areas like renewable energy and housing outnumber those lost in the defence sector, and are located in areas with a high density of existing defence work."

The policy document adds: "We are making the case for a defence diversification agency because we have a moral duty, and strategic defence and international commitments, to make Britain and the world a safer place.

Mr Corbyn, vice-chairman of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, said: "Many of us have spent our entire lives campaigning against nuclear weapons, we have got to win people over to the idea that a nuclear-free world is possible, that they are not a defence but an ever-present and costly danger not just to us but to the entire planet."

In Edinburgh at the launch of the Exhibition on Nuclear Weapons and Popular Culture, Bill Kidd, the SNP MSP, highlighted the Scottish Government's opposition to nuclear weapons.

He described the nuclear attacks 70 years ago on Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a "humanitarian catastrophe on an almost unimaginable scale" and added: "The idea that the UK Government thinks it is acceptable to base their nuclear weapons stockpile just 30 miles from Scotland’s largest population centre is as dangerous as it is unacceptable. The people of Glasgow and of Scotland as a whole have made their opinions clear; we do not want these immoral weapons based on the River Clyde and it is time for them to go."

Earlier, Mr Corbyn made clear that if he led a Labour minority government after 2020, he would be prepared to do a deal with the SNP.

“Obviously," argued the leftwinger, "you have to work with other parties to get things through and I would be prepared to do that.”

Meantime, his rival Andy Burnham made clear that more than 40,000 young Scots would get a "real pay rise" under his plan to abolish the youth rates of the National Minimum Wage and extend George Osborne’s proposed National Living Wage to all ages. Across the UK, the pay hike would benefit over 400,000 young Britons; a figure based on research from the House of Commons Library.

At present, there are three main hourly rates for the national minimum wage: £3.79 for 16 and 17-year-olds; £5.13 for 18 to 20-year-olds and £6.50 for everyone over 21.

In the Budget, the Chancellor announced the proposed introduction of a new National Living Wage, starting at £7.20 an hour from April 2016 and rising to £9 an hour by 2020 for all those over 25.

Mr Burnham’s plan would be to have just one minimum wage rate for all ages starting at the £7.20 an hour level while continuing to promote a “true” living wage, set in future years by a Living Wage Commission.

"I want to give a real pay rise to tens of thousands of young Scottish workers who should not be discriminated against in their workplace," insisted the Shadow Health Secretary.