Corbyn: I would never use nuclear weapons

He also said: "What went wrong was a UK-wide failure to oppose the principles behind austerity in the last two general elections."

Mr Corbyn has made repeatedly made clear his deep opposition to Britain’s nuclear deterrent but when pressed on if he would ever press the nuclear button, the vice-chairman of CND told the BBC: “No.”

Labour is split on the issue. Current party policy is for renewal. The Leader of the Opposition has stressed his “huge mandate”, suggesting that, while MPs might be in a majority for renewal, the party membership might not be.

However, given Mr Corbyn’s clear refusal ever to use the UK’s nuclear arsenal if he entered Downing Street, then its role as a deterrent would disappear.

This means that, even after the party’s defence review and its debate on the subject, any decision in favour of keeping Trident and replacing it with a new generation of nuclear submarines would be meaningless as the Labour leader as potential Prime Minister has let it be known he would never use them.

The main-gate decision on Trident replacement is expected early next year ie in the run-up to the Holyrood elections. A crunch vote is expected at Westminster.

Mr Corbyn said: “There are five declared nuclear weapon states in the world. There are three others that have nuclear weapons. That is eight countries out of 192 ... So 187 countries don’t feel the need to have a nuclear weapon to protect their security. Why should those five need it themselves? We are not in the era of the cold war anymore. It finished a long time ago.”

He added: “I am opposed to the use of nuclear weapons. I am opposed to the holding of nuclear weapons. I want to see a nuclear-free world. I believe it is possible.”

Meantime, Mr Corbyn, who, because of increasing numbers of new members has declared the “rebirth” of Labour in Scotland, said he was “working fine” with Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish party leader.

The UK’s Labour leader has made clear he will spend much time in Scotland on the campaign trail ahead of the May elections and said the “mood in the Labour Party is one of openness, it's one of democracy, participation, as well as strengthening things".

Mr Corbyn, who has described himself as “a Socialist not a Unionist”, argued that politics in Scotland was not about Nationalism versus Unionism but "the opportunities for young people to go to school, to go to college, to go to university, the issue of who owns and runs public services, the issue of health inequality, the issues of poverty".

While he said the SNP "might say they are addressing these issues", he pointed to "the issue of the loss of college places" as well as "huge health inequality issues, all of which have to be addressed".

He insisted Labour in Scotland was not as former Scottish leader Johann Lamont had claimed a “branch office” and he revealed that he would have discussions during the party's Scottish conference in Perth about whether the whip for Scot MPs at Westminster should be controlled by him or Ms Dugdale. Of course, at present there is only one - Ian Murray, the Shadow Scottish Secretary.

“The Labour Party in Scotland is a very strong organisation. It obviously lays out the manifesto for the Holyrood election, it obviously lays out what they expect of Scottish members in the Holyrood Parliament," he said.

Elsewhere, Mr Corbyn claimed Labour was not a "divided party" despite major differences with his party's MPs not only on the nuclear deterrent but also on military action in Syria.

The Labour conference in Brighton today will debate an emergency motion opposing extending into Syria the UK's military campaign against Islamic militants, known as Isis or Isil, without explicit authorisation by the United Nations.

The party leader told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "It's not a divided party. I received 60 per cent of the votes of all party members and supporters; it's the biggest mandate any leader has ever been given in the Labour Party and I respect that mandate and I respect the people that voted for me.

"Yes, there are some Labour MPs - maybe more than some - who do not agree with me on my belief that we should not be renewing our nuclear fleet, the Trident system.

"We should instead be investing that money in high technology engineering and protecting jobs but we should also be fulfilling our obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to take steps towards disarmament.

"That is a debate the party will be having and a debate where I put my points of view forward. There is nothing dishonest in having this open debate."

Ahead of the conference debate on Syria, Mr Corbyn acknowledged that action against Isis was another issue where there was a division with his MPs.

"There are people in the party who have different views but what we are all united on is that Isil's behaviour, its actions and its brutality are totally appalling," he said.

"There has to be an end to the fighting. There also has to be a cutting off of the funds and the arms that Isil are using, there has to be a ceasefire amongst the other forces within Syria.

"Maybe some progress has been made on that. You don't solve every problem necessarily by going in and bombing. Basically, all wars have to end with a political solution," he explained.

In a round of broadcast interviews following his keynote conference speech, Mr Corbyn told Sky News it was important not to "pre-empt" a decision on Syria by talking about a "hypothetical" Commons vote.

He said: "I was elected with over 250,000 votes of members and supporters, I have a huge mandate. Yes, there are people in the Parliamentary Labour Party, who have a different approach to the situation in Syria. I fully understand that.

"There is a possibility the UN discussions going on between President Putin, President Obama and others will lead some way towards a political solution. That's a good thing. Let's not pre-empt whatever decision we may or may not have to take," he stressed.

Amid questions about clashes with his party, Mr Corbyn told BBC Breakfast: "It's busy and it's demanding and it's pressurised and it's exciting and it's challenging - and I'm loving every minute of it."

Mr Corbyn told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that Labour faced "huge electoral challenges" next year in Scotland, Wales, London, and in local government elections in England.

Asked why he did not mention the word "deficit" in his conference speech, he replied: "What I mentioned and talked about was the balance of payments problem, the deficit that that leaves us for the future, and John McDonnell outlined on Monday the basis of our economic policy, which is essentially about investing in a growing economy which, of course, in turn does drive down the deficit and does provide a higher tax basis for the present time."

Mr Corbyn declared: "You're not going to cut your way to prosperity, you grow your way to prosperity."

Asked why he did not mention immigration in his speech either, Mr Corbyn pointed out that Andy Burnham, the Shadow Home Secretary, had consistently made the point that the problems of the lack of doctors' surgeries or school places and housing difficulties in certain areas needed to be addressed and the UK Government had to be "far more focused" on ensuring those services were provided.

"The point I would also make is that people that have migrated to this country over many years have made an enormous contribution to our society, helped our economic growth, helped our health service and helped our social services and our education services, so don't look upon immigration as necessarily a problem, it's often a very great opportunity," he added.