The leader of Britain’s biggest trade union has warned that its link with Labour could be put at risk if the party’s next leader fails to act as the voice of ordinary working people.

Len McCluskey, the leader of Unite, suggested his union would rethink its relationship with Labour if the party elected the wrong leader to succeed Ed Miliband. “It’s essential that the correct leader emerges, and that there’s a genuine debate about the direction we are going in,” he told the BBC.

His comments came after a weekend of turmoil for Labour, when the leader of the party in Scotland, Jim Murphy, resigned with a scathing attack on McCluskey, who had orchestrated a campaign against him. Jon Cruddas, Labour’s former policy co-ordinator, called on the next leader to “go to the dark places” and fundamentally review the purpose of the party.

Andy Burnham, the frontrunner in the race, on Sunday said that McCluskey and Peter Mandelson were wrong about the future direction of the party, and described himself as the “change” candidate.

Burnham called for Labour to carry out an honest assessment of the last government, adding that Mandelson was wrong to call for a return to New Labour and that McCluskey was wrong to call for a move to the left.

Andy Burnham’s BBC interview Guardian

“Both approaches are wrong,” Burnham told the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1.. “We have got to bring people back together. I am attracting support from all parts of the party.”

Burnham, who has been praised by McCluskey in the past, moved to demonstrate the breadth of his appeal by announcing that the shadow work and pensions secretary, Rachel Reeves, was supporting his campaign.

Reeves, who is one of the rising stars of the party’s 2010 intake, joins Michael Dugher, the shadow transport secretary, who is chairing Burnham’s campaign. The shadow lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, who once shared a flat with Tony Blair, is also supporting Burnham.

McCluskey, who was accused by Murphy of destructive behaviour, insisted he had not endorsed Burnham. But he suggested that Unite might have to reassess its link with the Labour party if the next leader fails to represent working people.

Asked on Pienaar’s Politics, on BBC Radio 5 Live, whether Unite could review its support for Labour if the party chose the wrong leader, McCluskey said: “It is the challenge of the Labour party to demonstrate that they are the voice of ordinary working people, that they are the voice of organised labour.

“If they do that in a way that enthuses us then I don’t believe that the mountain that is ahead of us in unclimbable. It’s up to them. If they inject more disillusionmnent in the party then the pressure will grow from our members to rethink. It is certainly already growing in Scotland.”



The Unite general secretary said there was already pressure to break the link with Labour in Scotland after the SNP’s success in winning the support of working-class voters. He said: “We have a rules conference in my union in July and there’s already a number of resolutions from Scotland seeking to release them from the rule that kind of limits us just to the Labour party.”

McCluskey issued his warning as Cruddas, Labour’s policy co-ordinator in the last parliament, said Labour needed to overhaul its thinking after suffering its worst result since 1918. He told The World This Weekend on BBC Radio 4: “The person who should be leader is the person who runs towards the defeat, owns it and shows real leadership in not swerving around what happened 10 days ago, who is prepared to go to the dark places and fundamentally rethink what the Labour is for, who it represents, what it’s all about.”

Cruddas said that Miliband had taken Labour to its worst defeat since 1918, when Labour won 57 seats and secured 21.5% of the popular vote. The 2015 result, in which Labour secured 30.4% of the overall share of the vote, was in fact Labour’s third worst result since 1918. In 1983, Michael Foot won 27.6% of the vote while Gordon Brown won 29% in 2010.

But Cruddas said: “Arguably [the result in 2015] is one of the great crises in the Labour party history. I argued that the 2010 defeat was actually the worst defeat in Labour history, since 1918. The defeat of 10 days ago was much worse. So this is profound.”

Earlier on Sunday, Sir Keir Starmer, the former director of public prosecutions who was elected as a Labour MP on 7 May, ruled himself out of the leadership race after a grassroots campaign had called on him to run. Starmer tweeted: “V flattered by #keirforleader initiative and thanks for so many supportive messages but Labour needs s/one with more political experience.”

Burnhamsuggested he would not be beholden to any factions in the Labour movement. Speaking on the Marr show, he said: “I am the change candidate, because we have got to reach out to those voters who had doubts about us on immigration and on economic competence. If we are going to rebuild that trust we need to have an honest assessment of the record of the last Labour government on the economy.” Burnham is said to have secured the support of as many as 100 of Labour’s 232 MPs.

Murphy said in his resignation speech that he would push for reforms to the leadership election rules in Scotland to reduce the influence of the trade unions by introducing a form of one-member-one-vote. This would bring the rules in the Scottish Labour party in line with the rules for the UK party.

On McCluskey, he said: “Whether it’s in Scotland or the contest to come across the UK, we cannot have our leaders selected or deselected by the grudges and grievances of one prominent man. The leader of the Scottish Labour party does not serve at the grace of Len McCluskey and the next leader of the UK Labour party should not be picked by Len McCluskey.”

Speaking on Pienaar’s radio show, McCluskey said he was being portrayed as a villain. He said: “I think, obviously, Jim is hurting and I can understand that. But he’s playing the same trick that rightwing media has played for a number of years, looking for a bogeyman as an excuse. I wasn’t the one who lost Scotland to the SNP.”

Burnham, who has been praised by McCluskey, said he had spoken to the Unite leader in recent days. But he said that he had also spoken to other key figures across the Labour movement as he pointed out that, under the new rules, the votes of union leaders and affiliated union members carry as much weight as anyone else entitled to vote.

“This won’t be union bosses deciding, this will be school dinner ladies, this will be healthcare assistants,” he said. “I am the unifying candidate. I am bringing all parts of the Labour movement together.” Burnham, who said Labour should celebrate its links with the trade unions, made clear the party must recover its credibility in two key areas – economic competence and immigration.

In his interview, Burnham made clear his frustration that Labour had ceded economic credibility to the Tories after allowing the deficit to “get too high” in 2004-05. “When the crash happened we weren’t in a strong enough position,” he said as he pointed out that he led a tough spending review as treasury chief secretary in 2007, in which public spending grew below the overall level of economic growth. He pointed out that David Cameron and George Osborne described the spending review as tough.

Burnham also made clear that Cameron would have to deliver major changes on immigration in the EU referendum negotiations. He wants restrictions on agencies that bring in migrant workers from eastern Europe, who are paid below the minimum wage. He also wants a two-year ban on citizens from other EU countries claiming benefits in the UK.

He said: “I am a strong pro-European and I want to make the pro-European case in this referendum. It is clear to me that the British interest is in staying the EU. But I am warning that we will only be able to win that argument if we have a credible package of reforms on immigration. If David Cameron does not deliver it then we will be sleepwalking to exit from the EU, and I don’t want to see that.”