Unison set out their expectations for a Labour government

Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis set out his tests for continuing to support Labour this afternoon. Speaking at their conference in Liverpool, Prentis said:

For too long we’ve built the careers of Labour politicians, only to be let down when we needed them most. I don’t want to hear Labour apologising for past mistakes, I want to see a clear agenda from Labour for the future. We must not support a Labour Government that does not :

• put an end to privatisation and market madness or restore our NHS
• invest in our public services
• restore the facility time taken away from our activists
• restore workers’ rights and remove the shackles on trade unions

Prentis also called for Labour councils to refuse to implement to Bedroom Tax, and said that the party should be “using power to support our class like the Tories always do”.

There were strong words for both Balls and Miliband in the wake of recent speeches too – with Prentis arguing that “cutting welfare and rivalling Tory spending cuts may win you support in the right wing press, but it won’t win you the next election”, whilst Miliband was given some advice from Nye Bevan:

“We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road – they get run down.”