NewsBreakingOnline

Labour leader refuses to back planned public sector strikes – and talks of ending ‘late-night deals’ at party conference Ed Miliband is to loosen the grip of trade union leaders over Labour policy-making as part of a sweeping modernisation drive that risks serious confrontation with the party’s traditional paymasters. The move to change historic links with the unions and open policy up more to ordinary members will alarm union bosses as they prepare this week for the first in a rolling programme of strikes against public-sector cuts. Miliband, who won the leadership race against his brother David with the help of union votes, signalled the move yesterday after he refused to back Thursday’s planned strike by up to 750,000 teachers, lecturers and civil servants. In a clear reference to the power union chiefs still exercise at the party’s annual conference, where they wield 50% of the vote, he said it was time for Labour to move on from “late-night deals, thrashed out in locked meeting rooms by a handful of people”. He added: “The best policy does not come from a few people locked in a room. It comes from conversations on the doorstep, at the school gate, in our workplaces.” Although Labour reduced union dominance under the leaderships of John Smith and Tony Blair, the three biggest unions, Unite, Unison and the GMB still control 40% of voting power. Miliband is acutely aware that he is vulnerable to charges of being the unions’ man as the country heads into what may be the most prolonged period of industrial strife since the 70s and 80s. His move – also high-risk as the unions provide much of Labour funding – came as senior figures in the government indicated they would be prepared to toughen anti-union legislation if the strikes seriously disrupted services. Ministers are examining plans to make it impossible to strike unless at least 40% of their members back action – rather than allowing them to be triggered by a simple majority of those who vote. They are also looking at banning public-sector workers from being employed as full-time union reps on the public purse and at imposing a legal duty on unions to ensure a minimum level of service in the event of a strike. One idea that Miliband may consider is reducing the proportion of the block vote at conferences. A balance had to be struck, he said, between the Labour of the 80s, when deals were stitched up behind closed doors and the 90s, when policy was made by a New Labour clique and conference was powerless. “We went from six people making decisions in a smoke-filled room in the 1980s to six people making the decisions from a sofa in Whitehall,” he said. Any reforms, however, will provoke heated debate and inevitable resistance. Such changes will need to be put to the party’s national executive committee and then be voted on by the party conference under its present rules. Miliband stressed that he was looking to strengthen not weaken the influence of individual union members in the party. “Nearly three million ordinary men and women – we call them trade union levy payers – are linked to this party. Nurses, call-centre workers, engineers, shop workers. We are unique in having that relationship with working people. But for years we have done nothing to reach out to these men and women. When did any of us see substantial numbers of them involved in our party?” He confirmed his intention to end elections for the shadow cabinet and to put ideas from local communities in front of Labour’s national policy-setting body. Conference would also be thrown open to non-members and wider civil society. Acknowledging the shortcomings and in-fighting of the Blair and Brown governments of which he was a member, Miliband said: “Old Labour forgot about the public. New Labour forgot about the party. And, by the time we left office, we had lost touch with both. “That wasn’t all. We talked about the importance of solidarity and respect, but too often looked inwards, distracting us from the task of serving the country. The internal squabbles damaged our reputation and distracted us from the task of serving the country.” Michael Fallon, the Tory deputy chairman, rejected the idea that union influence would be diluted. “These trivial proposals today offer little real change and won’t reconnect Labour with the public. Ed Miliband cannot go on like this – failing to break the union hold over his party, failing to provide real change within his party, and failing to say sorry for the economic mess Labour left the country. “The unions elected Ed Miliband, are bankrolling his party, and he clearly doesn’t have the guts to stand up to them.” Ed Miliband Trade unions Labour Public sector cuts Public sector pay Public sector careers Public sector pensions Toby Helm guardian.co.uk