JEREMY Corbyn needs to get used to leadership, and stop making "inappropriate" comments, a leading union boss said in a speech in York.

Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, said the Labour leader had been a principled MP used to being able to say whatever he wanted, but now needed to change his behaviour in leadership.

Mr McCluskey spoke at a student-organised York Union event at the University of York, speaking on the Labour party's future and condemning the Trade Union Bill currently going through Parliament.

He called the bill "an attack on democracy itself".

"When a Government is trying to introduce laws that take away effectively the right to strike, the right to protest, the right to fund their main opposition party, that's precisely why there are all kinds of individuals are opposed to the bill.

He added: "It threatens our whole way of life in many different ways."

His talk came just after junior doctors voted overwhelmingly to strike over a new working terms proposed by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Mr McCluskey called for the Government to sit down and talk with doctors' leaders - "people who are so important to our way of life and out National Health Service" - and reach a "sensible agreement".

He added: "It's extraordinary. It's an indication of the anger that is felt. Workers, whether they are dockers or doctors, don't like going out on strike so when they vote in massive numbers like that it's an indication that they feel an injustice."

On Mr Corbyn, below, who Unite backed in the Labour leadership contest this summer, Mr McCluskey criticised his comments on "shoot to kill" as "inappropriate" - and said they were an example of Corbyn struggling with his new role.

He said: "Jeremy Corbyn has to come to terms with it [his leadership]. He has been a very principled MP and been able to say what he likes, but now he's a leader and in leadership he can't necessarily say the first thing that comes into his head. He has to take some balance."

He later admitted there was a major task before the new Labour leader, saying "The only way for Jeremy Corbyn to become Prime Minister is if he puts forward a credible economic alternative that the British people can sign up to."

The party also needs to tackle the fears that have lead to traditional Labour voters deserting the party for UKIP, by committing to a major programme of house building, and by taking on "greedy bosses" who use migrant workers to undercut British workers on pay and conditions.