UNISON will not call for Blair's resignation but will challenge
hard on government policies
UNISON will not be calling for the resignation of Prime Minister
Tony Blair but "we will not keep our heads down, gobs shut for Labour
if this government continues to put forward right-wing policies",
warned general secretary Dave Prentis.
The resignation call had come from Lambeth who withdrew a far more
constructive criticism of government policies in favour of what
Cymru/Wales' Bill King called "populist posture" and a "silly sixth
form stunt".
This was not a serious political position, said Bill and he was
echoed by many others. North West's Nigel Flannigan warned of the
dangers of 'gambling with gesture politics' and letting the Tories
in.
"We don't need a Tory Government -we need UNISON in there influencing
a Labour government'. But Lambeth's Jackie Lewis warned that it
had been hard for natural Labour supporters to back the party in
the recent elections because of their distrust of Tony Blair.
"Blair led us into war on a false prospectus where thousands died
for a lie. "do you think that after next year's general election,
we will see a newly elected Tony Blair apologising for privatisation
and the invasion of Iraq?" she asked.
"You know that will not happen. A fundamental change of policy
requires a change of Prime Minister", she added. Falkirk's Gray
Allen claimed the resignation call was "not about gesture politics
but about how we win the next election".
"Blair is a liability for us", he said. But NEC member Steve Warwick
slammed 'personalised' policies and warned that a resignation call
would make Dave Prentis' job harder in fighting for our policies
with government, and there would be "a real danger" of splitting
the Labour Party and letting the Tories back in.
Dave Prentis and a series of other major trade union leaders are
pressurising the government for a radical new manifesto. Calling
for Blair's resignation would only serve to undermine that process
and isolate UNISON. Conference agreed and overwhelmingly threw out
the motion.
The tragedy of the debate was that the real issues we have with
the government were lost in the argument with the movers focussing
the debate on the resignation issue.
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