Tories claim Falkirk ‘tip of the iceberg’

Tory vice-chairman Bob Neill wrote to Met Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe asking him to look into allegations of possible fraud relating to Ilford North and Lewisham Deptford, both in Greater London.

The call comes after Labour handed over evidence to police in Scotland about claims that the Unite union tried to fix the result of a candidate selection in Falkirk by packing the constituency with members, whose subscriptions it paid.

Mr Neill described Falkirk as “the tip of the iceberg”, noting that a leaked Unite document suggested the union was getting involved in the choice of a candidate for the 2015 general election in 41 seats across the country.

Wider problems

In his letter to the commissioner, Mr Neill said: “I am concerned that this instance is just the tip of the iceberg, as Unite themselves admit they are targeting at least another 40 Labour party parliamentary selections for similar treatment. Senior Labour party sources have also confessed that the problems go wider than just Falkirk.”

The Tory MP cited reports that in Ilford North Unite were offering their members free Labour party membership in exchange for attending a meeting with general secretary Len McCluskey.

And he quoted allegations from a Labour London activist that the union was “bankrolling” a number of campaigns, including in Lewisham Deptford.

New allegations

The new allegations came as Labour leader Ed Miliband came under pressure to take radical steps to curb trade union influence over his party.

He is expected to use a high-stakes speech tomorrow to announce reforms to the way the party is organised – including caps on spending in candidate selections and elections to senior party positions. He has already scrapped a Blair-era scheme under which unions were able to pay the subs of new members which they recruited to the party.

The Labour leader said at the weekend that he wanted to “mend… not end” the link with unions to give more influence to individual members.

But he was plunged into an increasingly bitter public war of words with Mr McCluskey, who warned Mr Miliband to “step back from the brink of a ruinous division” and stop “playing into the hands” of the Tories.

The Unite chief said he would not apologise for efforts to “reclaim Labour” from an “out of touch elite” but renewed his insistence that Unite was not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing.

Clashes with Blair

Former prime minister Tony Blair – who was involved in a series of clashes with unions during his time as Labour leader – declined to comment on the row.

“I think he (Mr Miliband) is going to make a speech on this and the last thing he needs is advice from me,” Mr Blair told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

“If you forgive me, I am not going to queer his pitch… I am sure he will deal with it in the right way.”