Lord Chancellor slams Labour over refusal to condemn illegal strikes proposal
2 min read
Lord Chancellor David Lidington has blasted Labour for refusing to distance itself from a proposal for illegal strike action – saying the party could be a threat to the rule of law.
Unite boss Len McCluskey last week said he would back illegal strikes – where fewer than 50% of workers take part in a ballot - in a bid to force the Government to pay public sector workers more.
Justice Secretary Mr Lidington said he had been “appalled” after his Labour counterpart Richard Burgon refused to condemn the suggestion – as did an official spokesman for Jeremy Corbyn.
He told the Sunday Times: “As lord chancellor you have to swear an oath in public in the royal courts of justice - with all the judges - to uphold the rule of law…
“I don’t see how anybody who aspires to the office of lord chancellor can show ambiguity about that.”
He added: “The people who suffer if there are strikes are ordinary members of the public, including public sector workers, the commuters who are trying to get into work, the parents of kids at school and the students themselves at a critical stage of their development and education.
“And illegal strikes where union bosses say they might defy the law poses a more insidious threat because that is challenging the principle of the rule of law which is central to how we operate as a country.”
Asked this week if he condemned the remarks by the Unite boss, Mr Corbyn's spokesman said: "We want to see the pay cap lifted immediately.
"We've opposed the arbitrary thresholds in the Trade Union Act, and if and when a Labour government is elected we will change the law to allow trade unions to operate freely and democratically."
Pressed again, he said: "Nobody wants to see strikes, we want to see the pay cap lifted and the anti-democratic trade union legislation changed."
He added: "No such strikes have been called, we're not in that situation. The important thing is to lift the pay cap and allow trade unions to operate democratically and freely."
Asked if Mr Corbyn believed people should abide by the law, the spokesman said: "Of course we support respecting the law, but the situation we're talking about here is a hypothetical one."
Unite is Labour’s biggest donor and Mr McCluskey has been a vocal supporter of Mr Corbyn throughout his leadership.
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