PARTY BIG GUN WHO WANTS TO SINK TRIDENT

ONE of Ed Miliband’s closest advisers is pushing him to drop Labour’s support for the Trident nuclear deterrent.

Party sources say Stewart Wood, who was handed a peerage by Mr Miliband in 2010, implacably opposes replacing the submarine-based system. Lord Wood, now a member of Labour’s shadow cabinet, fought a losing battle on the issue last year.

But the peer, who served as Gordon Brown’s foreign policy adviser in Downing Street, would be a key figure in any coalition talks, raising the prospect of a Labour U-turn.

The SNP has said that scrapping Trident is a ‘red line’ in any deal to prop up a minority Labour government.

But senior Labour sources warn that ditching its commitment to Trident would provoke a civil war in the party.

One shadow minister said: ‘The problem is that Ed has got Stewart Wood in his ear telling him to ditch Trident. He doesn’t seem to realise that it would split the party in two.’

Lord Wood could not be contacted for comment last night but Labour insisted its commitment to Trident will be included in the party’s manifesto.