No more peace and quiet for Tony

Submitted by martin on 16 May, 2003 - 9:18

It is starting to look like the peace and quiet that Tony Blair enjoyed within the Labour Party when the old generation of union leaders - headed by the outgoing Bill Morris of the TGWU - were in place, will soon be gone forever.
The newly elected leader of the GMB, Kevin Curran, is refusing to sign a £40 million rescue plan for the Labour Party. He has postponed a decision until next spring by which time the union will have finished a review into its relations with the Labour Party. Curran says Blair's support for the private sector, especially PFI and foundation hospitals, is "tearing the party apart".
Meanwhile, Britain's biggest trade union, Unison, looks set to put it self on a collision course with the Labour Party leadership over party democracy. A motion to the Unison Affiliated Political Fund conference supported by the APF national committee proposes a complete review and overhaul of the Blair sponsored rule changes known as Partnership in Power. The motion pleads an urgent case for reform, warning that Labour party membership is falling and lamenting a "declining interest" among members in taking part in the policy process.
The motion also adversely compares the "sterility" of the party's spring conference in Glasgow with the "vitality" of the Stop the War demonstration outside the conference centre, which attracted thousands of marchers. The motion declares that "there have developed substantial differences between the beliefs and policies of most members of the Labour Party and affiliated organisations and the actions of Government over some key policies".

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