Jeremy Corbyn will stay anti-Trident, says CND general secretary

Jeremy Corbyn will never change his mind on Trident, anti-nuclear weapons campaigners have said.

Kate Hudson, general secretary of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), said she could not see the "lifelong member of the CND" abandoning his beliefs, ahead of Mr Corbyn's expected appearance at the organisation's annual conference in north London.

She said: "The conference is absolutely delighted and we are looking forward to welcoming him at a private event later on this afternoon.

"He's been a marvellous support and strength to CND and it's great that as he takes the debate forward in the Labour Party in an open and democratic fashion he has retained this important connection with us."

Of convincing the rest of the party to commit to nuclear disarmament, Ms Hudson said she thought Mr Corbyn's chances were "very good".

"We've seen over the last decade how public opinion has shifted on Trident and we've seen military figures deciding that Trident should be scrapped ... we've seen people concerned that Britain's security needs are not met by a Cold War relic.

"We're facing things like climate change, pandemics, cyber warfare - a range of 21st century issues that are not met by Trident.

"I mean: would you nuke a terrorist for example? It's just not doing the job."

She added that opposing Trident was "the new common sense" and said she doubted Mr Corbyn would waver in the face of party pressure.

She said: "I can't imagine Jeremy Corbyn changing his long held principled beliefs. His view has been at odds with the Labour party policy for some while clearly - I can't imagine that he would possibly change his position on that.

"It may be that he's not able to persuade in open debate the party as a whole but let's see." The CND - which has about 35,000 members ' has experienced a huge surge in popularity since Mr Corbyn's election as Labour leader, with "probably two or three hundred" new members in the last week.

The organisation is preparing for a national demonstration of public opposition to Trident in February next year, in the run up to the parliamentary vote, Ms Hudson said.