A row has broken out in the SNP after the party’s defence team watered down a conference motion on blocking 16 and 17 year olds from being recruited into the army.

Young Scots for Independence - the party’s youth wing - drafted a motion calling on the UK Government to work towards raising the minimum age to 18.

However, SNP MPs tabled an amendment that focused on “active duty” rather than recruitment.

SNP Youth National Vice Convener Rory Steel said: "We're glad to see so many backing this policy, which would protect young people's welfare and human rights, but we're disappointed we still do not have the support of the SNP Defence Team.

"The Defence Team hasn't consulted with the YSI. The views of young people in our party should be central to the issue, but have not been taken into account."

In 2014, an Ipsos Mori poll conducted on behalf of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust found that 78% of respondents who expressed a view thought that the minimum enlistment age should be 18 or above.

Former Children’s Commissioner Tam Baillie last year called for a ban on the recruitment of under 18s to the military, a practice that can only take place with parental consent.

In the same year, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child called for the UK to “review its position” and raise the age to 18.

In a motion to next month’s party conference, the YSI wrote: “Conference notes that the UK is the only European & NATO country to recruit 16-year-olds into the armed forces, in conflict with the internationally recognised UN Rights of the Child."

The group concluded: “Conference calls upon the UK Government to work towards raising the minimum armed forces recruitment age from 16 to 18 for all roles that require combat training in line with international standards and affirms that this will form a part of the SNP's Defence Policy for an independent Scotland."

However, the SNP defence team at Westminster, led by MP Stewart McDonald, dumped the reference to raising the “recruitment age”.

The amendment stated: “Conference calls upon the UK Government to work towards raising the minimum active duty age from 16 to 18 for all roles in line with international standards and affirms that this will form a part of the SNP's Defence Policy for an independent Scotland”.

McDonald said yesterday: "The current and previous defence teams have had extensive consultation with the YSI over several months, including a meeting with myself during the summer recess which lasted almost three hours. The SNP has a strong alternative to the UK approach to defence that is less about projecting military might, and instead about playing our part in international affairs to promote peace, stability and security."