Miliband on collision course with ‘hard ball’ unions
By politics.co.uk staff
Ed Miliband is gearing up for a confrontation with trade unions as he seeks to limit their influence over the Labour party.
The Labour leader is likely to frustrate union figures when he pushes through measures at next month's party conference in Liverpool.
Under the proposals, which form part of the Refounding Labour project being led by Mr Miliband's close ally Peter Hain, unions' voting power at conference will be reduced to below 50%, the Guardian reported.
"We cannot go on with a system in which unions have 50% of the vote at conference, and just three general secretaries of three unions control four-fifths of that union vote," a source close to the Labour leader told the newspaper.
"Currently, the union leaders are playing hard ball but they need to wake up.
"Ed has said he wants to do this through consensus, but he is not going to give the unions a veto about change. We are not going to concede."
Unions' influence over leadership elections will also be reduced, despite the fact that Mr Miliband only beat his elder brother Ed in last year's contest thanks to their support.
The moves are likely to deter the unions from giving Labour the contact details of the three million political contributors, so the party can get in touch with them directly.
Talks with union bosses are not expected to be resolved in Liverpool. They could drag on until the party's 2012 autumn conference, some reports have suggested.
