Jeremy Corbyn is on collision course with Labour MPs and trade unions for defiantly speaking at an anti-Trident rally and snubbing his party's pro-EU campaign.
The Labour leader will address a CND rally in London alongside the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon, Leanne Wood of Plaid Cymru, the Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and veteran left-wing actress Vanessa Redgrave.
His decision has infuriated many Labour MPs, who claim he is campaigning against the party’s policy on Trident and ignoring its policy to campaign to remain in the EU.
Although Mr Corbyn will also attend Labour’s Yorkshire and the Humber regional conference, where speakers will include Labour In For Britain leader Alan Johnson, he will miss a national day of campaigning on the EU.
And union leaders claim the Labour leader and his left-wing allies are putting tens of thousands of jobs in the defence industry in jeopardy by opposing the renewal of Trident nuclear submarines.
Labour MP John Woodcock, who represents the Trident town of Barrow, told The Independent: "His choice is symbolic of his obsession with changing our policy on Trident over our ability to make a coherent case on the most important issue facing the country for a generation.
"It will make many in the party worried that he has not been entirely straight with Labour members that he has dropped his long-standing opposition to the EU."
And Michael Dugher, sacked from the shadow cabinet last month, said: "I've nothing against old friends getting together at the weekend for a nice walk.
"But for Jeremy to share a platform with many of Labour’s political opponents and denounce what is still Labour Party policy is quite frankly barmy."
Labour's Trident backlash also received powerful backing this week when Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson spoke out against Mr Corbyn on Trident at an engineering conference.
"I'm in favour of a continuous at sea nuclear deterrent," said Mr Watson.
"My party's policy favours a continuous at sea nuclear deterrent. Our trade unions, who represent thousands of workers in the 450 companies who form the supply chain that make it, are in favour of Trident."
He added: "You may have read that this view is not shared by all our MPs. But I have made it clear to David Cameron that if he honours his promise of a vote on Trident I will support it."
At a conference held by the GMB in Newcastle on Thursday in support of renewing Trident, the incoming general secretary Tim Roache told delegates he met Mr Corbyn last week to discuss the issue.
"I said to him: 'Jeremy do you really want to be the Labour leader that presided over the demise of whole communities like we would see in Barrow and Faslane and elsewhere else - just as Thatcher did to the communities in the mining dispute in the 80s?'" said Mr Roache.
"I give you this utter assurance, that we will fight to our last breath to defend every single one of your jobs in this industry - and we must push this Government for an early decision."
Outgoing general secretary Sir Paul Kenny said renewing Trident had been Labour policy for a number of years and it was irresponsible to talk about scrapping it without addressing the implications for more than 50,000 jobs at stake.
He said: "I am absolutely clear and unashamed to stand up for the defence of our members jobs in the Trident renewal
Joining the attack on Mr Corbyn, Tory defence minister Philip Dunne said: "Thirty years ago, the leader of the opposition backed unilateral disarmament as we faced aggression from nuclear armed powers who did not share our values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law.
"Today, the picture is depressingly similar. Disarming now would be a reckless gamble with our national security that would play into the hands of our enemies."
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