Labour MP says Miliband’s union-link reform “risks being a disaster”

Not all Labour MPs are happy with Ed Miliband’s plans for the Labour/union link. Ian Lavery – former NUM President and now Chair of the Trade Union group of MPs – has said he’s “absolutely disappointed” at the plans which he fears could be “the beginning of the end” for Labour’s link to the unions. Lavery told the Newcastle Journal:

“This risks being a disaster for the party. I’m disappointed, absolutely disappointed, at his speech. It is an historic one but for all the wrong reasons, and in my view it risks being the beginning of the end of what has been a fantastically successful relationship between unions and the party. We all agree we need to work to see how that needs to change, to be updated, but this is not the right direction. I wanted to see the leader give a speech that says we can sort this not run away if someone criticises that relationship. I think we are seeing a policy which will be seen as the beginning of the end of that relationship.”