Bruised unions bow to Miliband
Tuesday, 28 September 2010 12:00 AM
Trade unions have pledged their support to Ed Miliband - after the new Labour leader told them he would not support strikes against forthcoming spending cuts.
Mr Miliband sought to shake off the tabloids' 'Red Ed' tag in his leader's speech to the party conference in Manchester after winning the Labour leadership off the back of substantial support from Britain's unions.
He said: "We need to win the public to our cause and what we must avoid at all costs is alienating them and adding to the book of historic union failures.
"That is why I have no truck, and you should have no truck, with overblown rhetoric about waves of irresponsible strikes.
"The public won't support them. I won't support them. And you shouldn't support them either."
The move sent a clear signal that he is not prepared to pander to trade unions and risked alienating those responsible for his new role.
Publicly union chiefs rallied to back Mr Miliband, however, offering praise for his debut leader's speech.
"This was a confident performance that established his authority as leader and spoke directly to the concerns of voters - particularly people at work," TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said.
"He got a difficult balance right - celebrating Labour's achievements, but owning up to mistakes and the need for a fresh start."
Unite's joint general secretary Tony Woodley was even more effusive, welcoming his decision to come out against many of New Labour's policies "at long last".
"Ed Miliband has addressed head on those concerns which have cost this party five million votes since 1997 - the illegal war in Iraq, insecure jobs, the sense that despite all the good things Labour did to make Britain a fairer place, that the government stopped being on their side," he said.
"People can now begin to understand the character of this man - in our new leader, we have a decent man who understands the problems of ordinary people.
"If I was David Cameron I would be starting to get worried. Ed's message will connect with those lost voters, dismayed by the reheated Thatcherism of the government."
Some on the right are determined to continue linking Mr Miliband to the unions, however.
Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt will say tonight in the Nicholas Ridley Memorial Lecture: "He can choose to join [the coalition's] consensus. Or he can continue talking the language of the leadership contest and pander to the unions that elected him.
"His choice is central to British politics. And it will determine whether Labour remain in the centre ground or condemn themselves to the extremes of this debate.
"Nothing we heard this afternoon suggests he has yet made this choice."
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