For richer, for poorer: Labour’s union-leader partners hand initiative to Tories

As first seen on Professional Manager

No-one is more able to undermine the credibility and electability of the Labour party than the very people who provide its funding. Despite calls for calm from Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, and the appeals of more moderate voices like Chris Keates of the NASUWT, the Trades Union Conference (TUC) yesterday passed a motion that could pave the way towards a general strike.

Politically, it’s like Roman Abramovich insisting his team wear their boots on the wrong feet.

Granted, few people expect that there will be a national shut down, but plenty of people will talk it up. That provides a golden opportunity for the government to position unionised labour as the main barrier to economic recovery, and the Labour party as their political mouthpiece. It may stem from genuine concern over the impact of austerity, but union rhetoric against public-sector pay freezes sounds like simple self-interest to the ears of most people.

Recession itself is a pretty opaque opponent, and Conservatives would much prefer a simple scrap with the unions that people would more easily understand.

Ed Balls must have been delighted with the heckles he attracted in Brighton as he refused to back an end to the pay freeze. Ever since Ed Miliband’s election, the party has been trying to shake off accusations that the “Union Barons” call the shots. But the moment of conflict he created, and could have used to his advantage, has been superseded by another. His cause is no further forward.

Some in the Union movement want to sever the link themselves. Like a disgruntled spouse, they keep threatening divorce, and large parts of the Labour party think wistfully about the free and single life. Until it comes to the business of paying the bills, that is.

Latest figures from the Electoral Commission show that Labour received cash donations of £2.7m in the second quarter of this financial year, of which £2.1m, or 78%, came from the unions. Until something is done about party funding, Labour will simply have to take it on the chin and rack their brains for a way to seize back the initiative.

Jon Bennett
Director
jon@linstockcommunications.com