A bad reception at the TUC?

By Mark Ferguson / @markfergusonuk

The instant media reaction appears to be that Miliband received a bad reception from the TUC. Whilst there will be some who were unhappy with his speech, that’s very much not the case for all unions. Indeed, GMB General Secretary Paul Kenny released a statement in the last few minutes that described Miliband’s speech as “pretty good” and praised his “courage”. Kenny said:

“I have to give him credit for his courage in coming here and speaking frankly to us. What comes across is that he is not ashamed of the trade union links to the Labour Party. As Labour Leader he is not embarrassed by his association with trade unions and trade unionists. His engagement with trade unionists on the ground will bring to the fore what needs to be done to get the economy moving and to bring fairness to our communities.”

“I thought it was a pretty good speech which covered a lot of ground with clarity and vision of what needs to be done. He knew that we would not agree with everything he said and proposes.”

“The one elephant in the room was his lack of reference in his speech to employment rights and basic freedoms enjoyed by working people. He knows that trade union freedoms could come under attack and he did not pledge to defend these freedoms. We will have to work on this.”

By and large, that reaction is representative of what I’m hearing from delegates at the TUC today, if that changes, you’ll be the first to know. But with the GMB being an affiliated union, and major donors to the party (unlike many of those who were disgruntled by his speech), Miliband will feel that he’s acheived what he set out to do today.