Gordon Brown bites the hand that feeds him as he condemns union over BA

Published on Monday 15 March 2010 22:10

PRIME Minister Gordon Brown has started an extraordinary row with his party's biggest financial backer after he condemned plans by British Airways cabin crew to go on strike.

The proposed walkout by members of the Unite union is set to cause chaos for thousands of passengers this weekend.

Flights from Scotland's three biggest cities to Heathrow and Gatwick will be reduced from 105 to ten for the three days of the strike starting on Saturday. From Heathrow, only Aberdeen will be left with a daily service while Glasgow and Edinburgh will just have a limited service on Saturday of one and two flights.

Overall, 40 per cent of BA flights will be cancelled, but those between Edinburgh, Glasgow and London City airport will not be affected because they are operated by a subsidiary of the airline.

A further four-day strike, from Saturday, 27 March, coincides with the start of the Easter break in south-west Scotland, the North-east, and Highlands and Islands, as The Scotsman highlighted on Saturday. Yesterday, Mr Brown described the proposed strike action as "deplorable and unjustifiable". In doing so he took on the union which has provided 25 per cent of his party's funding – totalling 11 million – since he became Prime Minister in 2007. Unite political director Charlie Whelan is a close friend of Mr Brown and believed to be acting as an adviser. Jack Dromey, the union's deputy general secretary, is married to Harriet Harman, Labour's deputy leader.

Unite is also expected to bankroll Labour's fight in the marginal constituencies.

Labour MP Jim Sheridan said he would be willing to "take on" the Prime Minister over his criticism of Unite. The Conservatives repeated claims the government had been slow to react because it is in hock to the union. And there was confusion over whether the government was intervening and trying to act as an honest broker.

However, it is understood a meeting was called over the weekend which the union did not appear at. While this was denied by Unite officials, it was clear that the intervention by Mr Brown and by Transport Secretary Lord Adonis had infuriated the union.

Unite's joint leader Tony Woodley urged BA to put back on the table an offer it withdrew on Friday after the union had announced the strikes. He said: "Put the offer back on the table and we will look sensibly at suspending the strike and we can hopefully find a long-term solution. At the moment British Airways does not want to negotiate – it just wants to dictate."

Mr Woodley said: "I don't blame our PM for trying to help bring together parties to resolve the dispute, but it is rather unfortunate that politicians of all parties always want to kick the unions and kick the employees when, in actual fact, it's my members who've been kicked here."

In the House of Lords, Tory transport spokeswoman Baroness Hanham said the "real problem" had been the government turning "a blind eye over months to the growing crisis".

She added: "Will the Labour Party now stop taking donations from the trade union? Is the government hampered from taking any action because of these donations?"

Lord Adonis replied: "This is an industrial dispute. It is not a political dispute."