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A top Labour MP has repeatedly refused to condemn the idea of an illegal strike in a heated live radio clash.

Sparks flew as Richard Burgon was asked if workers would be right to break Tory laws making it harder for them to fight for a fair wage.

The BBC quizzed the Shadow Justice Secretary on the Trade Union Act, which passed last year to the fury of unions and campaigners.

The Act made strikes illegal unless at least 50% of all the relevant union members take part in a ballot.

It also made strikes in public services like schools and fire stations illegal unless 40% of ALL a union's members vote in favour - not just those who actually turn out to vote.

(Image: PA)

This makes it harder to strike than become an MP, and today Unite boss Len McCluskey suggested he was prepared to break that law to end seven years of Tory pay caps.

The general secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We will always stand shoulder to shoulder with our members. If the government have pushed us outside the law then they will have to stand the consequences.

"If they haven't managed to hit an artificial threshold that this government have foolishly put onto the statute books then I will stand by our members.

"And we'll all live, including the government, we'll all live with the consequences of that."

(Image: Ian Forsyth)

Mr McCluskey added: "In terms of the concept of co-ordinated public service workers action, yes, I think that's very likely and very much on the cards."

Mr Burgon then appeared on the BBC immediately afterwards in a live interview - and was grilled repeatedly on whether he would back an illegal strike.

His exchange with Today interviewer John Humphrys is below.

BBC INTERVIEWER JOHN HUMPHRYS: If Unite goes on strike without hitting the 50% threshold, would you support them?

SHADOW JUSTICE SECRETARY RICHARD BURGON: Well, I think the real issue here is the only lawbreakers there have been where it comes to worker-employer relations are actually the government, because on July 26 the Supreme Court decided the Ministry of Justice of all things had been operating unlawfully with their employment tribunal fees.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

I'm asking you a completely different question. I'm asking you whether you would support Unite breaking the law.

Nobody is talking about returning to industrial relations of the 70s. What some people are talking about, if you'll let me finish if that's okay, is returning to the employment practices of the 1970s. We've got to understand that union members who are firefighters, who are dinner ladies, who are ambulance drivers, who are prison officers, have had pay cuts in real terms of up to 14% over the last few years.

Let's accept that is the case. What I'm asking you is a very specific question and it really is terribly important isn't it, because you are a senior figure in the opposition, Shadow Justice Secretary, Shadow Lord Chancellor. I'm asking you whether if Unite were to go on strike, breaking the law, knowingly breaking the law as Len McCluskey has just posited, would you support them?

These are complete hypotheticals.

(Image: BBC)

No they're not because Len McCluskey has raised it. If they were hypothetical Len McCluskey would have said so himself. He answered a direct question directly and said yes, he would consider going on strike, even if it meant breaking the law. I'm asking you for the third time whether you would accept that yourself.

Well in relation to the question of turnout in strike ballots, what we've always been supportive of is encouraging as many people to vote as possible in any strike ballot including e-balloting... What a Labour government would do would be to repeal the Trade Union Act which is seeking to stop trade unions from taking action, to stop ordinary people, hundreds of thousands of whom are listening to your show this morning, from suffering a 14% pay cut in real terms.

But I'm inviting you to either support or condemn the threat that has been made by Len McCluskey. You seem unwilling to do that either way.

There isn't any illegal strike action taking place.

It is being threatened as you very well know, it is being threatened by Len McCluskey, and I'm asking you again whether you would support that threat or not.

Well I think the real issue is rather than talking about one line from a speech or interview from a general secretary of a trade union, we should be talking about the reality faced by hundreds of thousands of your listeners. Nurses, care assistants, firefighters, prison officers, teaching assistants. All too often they get written out of this discussion. That is who this is about. What kind of government do we have that's made it so these hard-working decent people - trade unionists aren't some kind of other or some kind of enemy within - these hard-working people are faced with a situation where they're so desperate they're considering co-ordinating strike action.