The UK Government's insistence on retaining a nuclear deterrent is "out of touch" with the wishes of the Scottish people, SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson has said.

His comments came after new Defence Secretary John Hutton visited the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, which maintains the current Trident system and will construct its replacement.

Hutton rejected the Scottish Government's anti-nuclear position as "incredible folly" and said removing the deterrent would be "national vandalism", comments which angered various SNP representatives.

"The STUC have already shown that far from preserving jobs in Scotland spending on Trident suppresses the Scottish economy. This statement by John Hutton just shows how out of touch Labour is with not only opinion in Scotland but the current economic climate," Robertson said.

"The STUC report on Trident shows that if the UK Government was not spending billions of pounds on a new generation of weapons of mass destruction we could have significant investment in other, more productive parts of our economy. Trident is a costly waste of Government's limited resources – particularly in the current economic climate."

He also argued that the majority of people in Scotland, the majority of Scottish MPs, and the Scottish Parliament all oppose plans for a new generation of nuclear deterrent.

However, Hutton said that maintaining nuclear weapons is strategically important to guaranteeing Britain's long-term safety.

"I think we should base our policy on evidence, and our evidence in relation to the nuclear deterrent is pretty obvious.

"It has helped secure the security of the United Kingdom from a very dangerous nuclear threat for a very long time. With defence policy, you have to think 20, 30 or 40 years ahead, not two or three or four years," he added.