LABOUR's biggest trades union affiliate is planning a boycott of the party's conference next month in protest at the ongoing row over the Falkirk selection debacle.
Under proposals drawn up by Unite's regional committee in Scotland, union delegates will stay away from the Brighton gathering if the suspensions of two figures embroiled in the Falkirk row remain in place. A Labour source last night described the move as "self-indulgent" and also "damaging" to leader Ed Miliband.
Labour and Unite are at loggerheads over the way the union tried to secure the Falkirk candidacy for the latter's favoured candidate, Karie Murphy. Unite recruited more than 100 members in the town, but allegations emerged that some of the new members had not consented to joining the party.
Labour launched an investigation into the claims and put the local party into "special measures", while Murphy and Stevie Deans, who was both Unite's chairman in Scotland and chairman of the party in Falkirk West, were suspended.
The row prompted Miliband to condemn Unite and back far-reaching changes to the party's historic link with the unions.
Unite in Scotland has now written a draft motion offering its "full support" to Murphy and Deans. The motion also called on the union at a UK level to produce a resolution for local Labour parties to be "properly informed of the role of the union in the Falkirk selection".
It added: "This committee also calls upon the NEC [national executive council] to consider the most appropriate means of advancing the case of Unite and its activists in relation to the Falkirk selection issue at the 2013 Labour Party conference in Brighton."
On this theme, Unite in Scotland suggested a boycott: "Should the suspension of Stephen Deans regional chair and Karie Murphy regional political committee delegate still be in place, the position of the Scottish delegation to the conference will be one of non-attendance in support of Stephen and Karie."
The draft motion is expected to be handed to Unite's NEC imminently.
A boycott would inevitably take attention away from Miliband, who has struggled recently to set the agenda and mount effective attacks on the Conservatives.
One senior Labour source was scathing of the Unite motion: "This is damaging and self-indulgent stuff from Unite. Regardless of whether they believe they are in the right, a boycott will only harm the people who are desperate for a Labour government. It will only harm Ed's attempt at getting his message across to the country."
The motion is another example of the lengths to which Unite is going to help the suspended individuals.
The Sunday Herald revealed in July how Unite threatened to close the Grangemouth oil refinery down unless the company's owners lifted its own suspension of Deans, who works at the plant.
A Unite spokesman said: "It is a draft motion that is going to be sent to the executive council."
An SNP spokesperson said: "The depth of the rift that has opened up between Labour and Unite is laid bare in this scathing motion.
"Just when Ed Miliband believes he is managing to sweep the whole selection crisis under the carpet, his complete failure to address Unite's concerns looks set to come back to haunt him."
Labour declined to comment.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article