Corbyn refuses to say if he’d back illegal strikes
JEREMY Corbyn was yesterday branded “unfit to govern” after he dodged questions over whether he would back illegal strikes.
Ten times the Labour leader sidestepped questions on whether he backed Left-wing union baron Len McCluskey’s belief in defying the law on strike ballots, or whether he would join picket lines.
Unite boss Mr McCluskey has said there is a duty to break the Tory legislation requiring at least half of eligible workers to take part in votes on industrial action for ballots to be valid.
Mr Corbyn said unions existed to negotiate for members and would be staging “protest actions and many other things” over the winter in defence of ending the cap on public sector pay rises.
He said: “Instead of turning the blame on unions that represent their members, why can’t we instead look at the way in which this Government has exploited public sector workers over the past seven years?”
A Labour government would scrap the “really unfair” 50 per cent threshold, he added.
Backtrack
Pressed repeatedly by BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show, he refused to answer, saying finally: “I will be supporting those workers in getting a decent pay rise.”
The Conservatives seized on Mr Corbyn’s evasiveness, as well as his failure to spell out policy on European migration.
Tory party chairman Patrick McLoughlin said: “Jeremy Corbyn seems unable to give a straight answer to a simple question.
“Today he refused to commit to controlling migration from the EU and he refused to condemn illegal strikes. Jeremy Corbyn is once again showing he is unfit to govern.
“He would backtrack on Brexit and fail to take the balanced approach on the economy that this country needs – and it would be ordinary working people that pay the price.”
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell also refused to say if he would back illegal strikes. He told ITV’s Peston On Sunday the issue would not arise as strike ballots would meet the turnout threshold.
He said: “I don’t think anyone understands properly the strength of the anger out there. You watch what will happen this coming winter.
“These strikes have been provoked by this Government as a result of pay being below inflation.”
Deputy Labour leader Tom Watson told Sky News that Mr McCluskey had written to him accepting that Labour MPs would not back calls for illegal strikes.
Mr Watson added: “We don’t want people to break the law, we are democrats.”
Mr McCluskey told ITV’s Peston On Sunday: “I don’t expect the leadership of the Labour Party – or any Labour MP – to support a call to be outside of the law.
“I know that they are opposed to the current law and they will do all that they can inside Parliament to change this law.
“I’m not looking for that support,
I’m not looking to be pushed outside of the law.”
Meanwhile research has revealed that traditional Labour voters may be prepared to abandon the party over failing to support Brexit and could provide the key to who wins the next general election.
A study conducted by Professor Matthew Goodwin at the University of Kent and Professor Oliver Heath of Royal Holloway, University of London, found that the Tories’ increase in vote share at the general election was on the back of a popular pro-Brexit message. Of an estimated 140 Labour seats in England that had given majority support to Brexit, the average Conservative vote increased by 8.3 percentage points, compared to an average of 4.6 points across England as a whole.
It is thought the findings could also offer renewed hope to Ukip.
It now hopes to make a pitch to the “patriotic working class” pro-Brexit voters after its leadership contest is decided later this week.
WHO calls the shots in the Labour Party? The answer was plain to see on TV yesterday. On one channel was “harmless” old Jeremy Corbyn with his supposedly gentle, caring brand of politics. On the other side was one of his closest allies, union firebrand Len McCluskey.
The contrast was marked and the only conclusion to be drawn was frightening: slippery Corbyn is the willing frontman for McCluskey’s band of brothers and their vicious campaign to bring down the Government.
On the BBC, Corbyn was asked if he would join picket lines if illegal strikes were called in support of a five per cent public sector pay rise. His evasive reply: “I will be supporting those workers in getting a decent pay rise.”
He repeatedly refused to condemn threats of illegal strikes. On ITV, McCluskey was eager to flex his industrial muscles and warned the Prime Minister not to push workers “outside the law”. So who’s the boss? Don’t bank on hearing many moderate views at Labour’s conference this week, whether it’s on strikes or Brexit. Labour’s militant wing will be the ones who grab the microphone and the headlines.
How desolate traditional Labour supporters must feel at the way their moderate life-long beliefs are being betrayed by the Corbynista rabble.