Where next for the unions at conference?

There was a possibility that the trade unions would try to revive their power to inflict defeats on the leadership in contemporary resolution votes – they surrendered to a self-neutering on this when Gordon Brown took over at No.10 in 2007, as a gesture of goodwill.

The leadership wants to stick with the existing arrangement which means the trade unions can’t inflict a direct defeat on the leadership; instead you vote to refer the resolution for detailed discussion, away from the cameras, in the privacy of the national policy forum.

The NEC meets in the next couple of hours and is expected to agree to shunt the whole decision about what to do into next year’s Conference.

Come Conference 2010, they’ll probably revive their power to inflict direct defeats on the leadership … but there could be much bigger fish to fry in the reporting of that conference.

No. 10 is seeing this as a sign that the trade union barons don’t want to make life difficult for Gordon, that they want to hold onto him. Well, maybe … probably.

But they are not immune to the gloom that has infected Labour. Some of them could yet panic between now and a general election and try to hit the trap-door button.

None of them believes this is the week to do it.

The Conference Arrangements Committee, which decides what is debated, is likely to pick some of the following for this conference: public sector (private sector input and cuts will be aired there), the car industry, employment right, council housing, free school meals and the postal strikes.