Ed Miliband set to challenge unions' power

LABOUR leader Ed Miliband is set to challenge the power of the unions as he outlined plans to overhaul the way the party is run.

Mr Miliband has hinted that he may try to bypass the heads of Unite, Unison and the GMB, saying he wanted to "reach out" directly to three million nurses, call-centre workers, engineers and shop workers who are affiliated union members.

A shake-up of policymaking at Labour Party conferences could pave the way for cuts to the union's 50 per cent block vote.

Mr Miliband, whose leadership victory was secured with union backing, said policy making in the 1980s was "thrashed out in locked meeting rooms by a handful of people" - which will be seen as a coded attack on the role of the unions.