- Len McCluskey of Unite gives coded warning of leadership coup as he says New Labour will come to 'get' Miliband
- Miliband hits back and says 'I have the stomach for the fight'
- Unions will vote on withdrawing support for Labour this summer, another chief warns
Last updated at 1:19 AM on 18th January 2012
Facing electoral 'disaster': Ed Miliband could face a leadership coup, Len McCluskey has warned
Two of Britain's largest unions last night threatened to cut ties with Labour over its new stance on capping public sector wages.
Len McCluskey, the boss of Unite, the party's biggest paymaster, warned that he would turn off the taps and said Mr Miliband could face a leadership coup.
The GMB, another of Labour's biggest donors, warned that Mr Miliband's decision to accept the Government's one per cent pay cap was a 'serious mistake' and also indicated it could cut its traditional affiliation with his party.
The heads of Unite, the GMB, the PCS and the RMT joined forces to attack the Labour leader after Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls told a conference at the weekend the party was backing the pay cap for public sector workers and would retain it if returned to power.
Mr McCluskey said last night that there would be 'real serious long-term implications' if Labour is 'dragged to the Right'.
He added: 'If Labour loses the next election I think there will be a serious rethink by a number of unions, including Unite, about our future relationships and the constitution of our political alliances.'
Earlier he complained the change of heart on a public sector pay freeze was 'a victory for discredited Blairism at the expense of the party's core supporters'. Mr McCluskey added: 'It challenges the course Ed Miliband has set for the party, and perhaps his leadership itself.'
GMB general secretary Paul Kenny warned that Labour's decision could have a 'profound impact'. He said: 'It is time for careful consideration on the long-term implications this new stance by the party has on GMB affiliation. This is the most serious mistake they could have made.'
Unions are responsible for 92 per cent of Labour funds. Since the election, Unite has given Labour 7.6million, while the GMB has handed over 2.6million. Last night Mr Balls admitted: 'I don't want the GMB or Unite to disaffiliate from the Labour Party. Of course I take the threat seriously.'
Poll warning: Len McCluskey, left, accused the Labour Party of disenfranchising their own supporters after Ed Balls said in a speech that he backed the Coalition's stance on public sector pay freezes
Mark Serwotka, the leader of the PCS, said Labour's new stance 'guarantees' that Labour will lose the next election 'and lose badly.'
RMT boss Bob Crow added: 'Ed Miliband has jammed Labour's self-destruct mission into top gear. This betrayal of millions of Labour's core supporters sets him and his party on a one-way ticket to oblivion.'
But Mr Miliband hit back, saying: 'I am not going to change my policy in the face of threats. I will not back down. I stand up for what's right and if people don't like it, that's tough.'
Mr Miliband may have won the leadership battle with his brother David, but it seems his own deputy still has trouble getting the winner's name right.
During an interview yesterday, Harriet Harman said: 'Now we see David Cameron and Nick Clegg following Dav...Ed Miliband's argument.' However, her aides insisted that she was mistakenly referring to Mr Cameron.
Watch him as he makes a speech -- he says a few words, stops, looks around, then says a few more words, stops, looks around and it goes on. So typically Tony Blair, and a common Labour technique. He's trying to emulate Blair, hoping the 'technique' will make him popular. What an empty useless shell desperate for power. Yet his chances of becoming Prime Minister are quite good considering Cameron's Tories are deserting him for UKIP. And so the Tory/Labour merry-go-round goes on and Britain heads for the rocks like that Italian ship.
- LHT, Scotland, 18/1/2012 05:19
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