Kim Howells, former MP and NUM official, tells The World This Weekend that the Labour Party must break the union link…

“I think this threatens the whole reputation of the Labour Party. The Labour Party has got be seen to be above special interest politics. It’s no good any more assuming that ‘Well, the British People at large are going to be broadly sympathetic to the Trades Union movement therefore it doesn’t really matter.’ It does matter. It’s got to be seen to be a party that represents everyone. As society changes more quickly now than it has ever changed. The ‘Old Order’ is rapidly dissolving… Oh it’ll be a gift to the, to the Tories and the Lib Dems and the rest who want to see Labour defeated obviously, and kept out of government. But remember there are a lot of people inside the Labour movement who hate being in government because it means making very difficult decisions. They’d rather be a Ginger group outside. They’d rather be calling for what we used to refer to as “impossibleism” because it sounded good and it fitted their rhetoric. It’s a nonsense of course. And if Labour’s going to win the another General election and win cleanly then it’s got to change its constitution and its way of selecting candidates.”