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Labour chiefs have blocked a conference debate on Trident to avoid an embarrassing defeat for Jeremy Corbyn .

Motions for and against the renewal of Britain’s nuclear deterrent have been rejected by party bosses.

The move follows fears that Mr Corbyn, a former vice chair of CND and a long-standing opponent of Trident , would have lost if the issue was pushed to a vote.

It also spares the Labour leader from having to take opposing sides to his union backers who are in favour of retaining the country’s fleet of nuclear submarines.

A motion submitted by a Scottish Labour constituency called on conference to note that cancelling Trident would “result in thousands of redundancies” at “world-class engineering centres” in Barrow, Derby, Faslane and Rosyth.”

(Image: Getty Images)

It continues: “Conference recognises that the loss of employment in the event of non-renewal of Trident would have a huge impact on communities across the United Kingdom and considers that there are no credible plans to replace these jobs with employment of equivalent value that retains the skills of the workforce.”

But the Conference Arrangements Committee, which decides the agenda for the Labour gathering in Liverpool next week, said the motion was ruled out as it was not “contemporary.”

The question of Trident renewal has divided Mr Corbyn and his union backers who fear cancelling the deterrent could cost members’ jobs.

As the issue will not be debated, the party policy will remain in favour of keeping the nuclear fleet.

(Image: Jack Taylor)

Labour’s Jackie Baillie, a member of the Scottish Parliament, said: “My understanding is that as a result of all motions being ruled out, including those against Trident , existing party policy on Trident still stands.

“I suspect that the current leadership didn’t want this debate at conference as the could potentially have lost the vote.”