Shadow attorney general Catherine McKinnell became the fourth person to quit his front-bench team.
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Labour remains “strong and determined” despite the internal turmoil of recent weeks, Jeremy Corbyn has said.
A few hours later, however, Sir Paul Kenny, leader of the GMB union, warned that adopting a policy of unilateral nuclear disarmament could threaten the livelihood of many of his members whose jobs depend on Trident.
Labour backbencher John Woodcock today urged Mr Corbyn to “get real” and not allow Labour to scrap its pro-nuclear stance.
Ms McKinnell said the party was on an “increasingly negative path” following a flurry of resignations in the wake of Mr Corbyn’s reshuffle – seen by many to quieten dissenters.
The GMB leader said there were tens of thousands of jobs at around 50 sites in the United Kingdom that depended on defence contracts.
The promotion of Emily Thornberry to shadow defence secretary, replacing Maria Eagle, who supports the nuclear deterrent, has fuelled speculation that Mr Corbyn is planning to bring the party’s position in line with his own unilateralist view.
Elsewhere, on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Politics Scotland programme, shadow Scottish secretary Ian Murray called on Labour’s shadow cabinet to unite the party.
Ms Powell said: “I don’t think his comments were right or particularly helpful”. The union leader said rules that decreed the Labour conference had the ultimate say over party policy must be followed.
“I’ve never voted against the Labour whip, so I don’t think there’s any question about my loyalty and commitment to the Labour party”.
A senior party source said: “Iain made it clear how policy works, which is the NPF (National Policy Forum) and conference, and if there are any ideas to change policy, then obviously we take it to conference”. Of course people are entitled to want to change policy.
She wrote: “As somebody who came into politics with the sole motivation of making life better for my city, my region and, by extension, the country as a whole, I recognised that our electoral defeats in both 2010 and 2015 demanded a genuine and profound response from the Labour Party”.
“Now Jeremy’s perfectly entitled to say he wants to change that policy – but he has to go through the same democratic process that arrived at that policy in the first place”.
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ZDNet has reached out to the Labour party and will update if we hear back.
