04 July 2013

Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey has responded to Prime Minister David Cameron's insinuations that the union is in control of the Labour Party.

Following controversy over a Labour election in Falkirk, in which Unite members joined the political party and voted for a union-backed MP, Cameron has jumped at the chance to suggest Labour leader Ed Miliband has allowed the union - which is a major donor to the Party - to take inappropriate political control.

The Prime Minister mentioned Unite the Union and Len McCluskey several times during Prime Minister's Questions yesterday (03 July 2013), to which Miliband responded: "This is a prime minister who had dinners for donors in Downing Street, a tax cut to his Christmas card list and he brought Andy Coulson into the heart of Downing Street. The idea he is lecturing us about ethics takes double standards to a whole new level."

Len McCluskey also responded to the jibes, saying: "David Cameron showed today that he has nothing to say to the people of this country who are suffering because of his government's shambolic handling of the economy. He dismissed questions on food banks in order to point score and cheapened the office of prime minister by signalling loudly and clearly that he does not care about people's real worries. He may have an obsession with me and Unite the union, but I can assure him it's one that is not shared by the one million young people stuck on the dole, or at the food banks turning people away or among the patients being treated in hospital corridors. … there can be absolutely no question about who runs the Labour party: it is Ed Miliband and he has my full support. Yes, there may be issues we disagree on, that is allowed in a democratic party, but Unite is fully behind Ed Miliband and after today’s performance by Cameron the sooner Miliband is prime minister the better."