Ed Miliband to cut unions' hold on Labour voting

Mr Miliband, elected Labour leader last September thanks to union backing, hopes to cut their power, in a bid to boost democracy within the party.

He wants to by reduce unions' voting power at Labour conferences to below 50 per cent and peel away their stranglehold over leadership elections.

A source involved in talks debating the move reportedly said: "We cannot go on with a system in which unions have 50 per cent of the vote at conference, and just three general secretaries of three unions control four-fifths of that union vote. Currently, the union leaders are playing hardball, but they need to wake up.

"Ed has said he wants to do this through consensus, but he is not going to give the unions a veto about change. We are not going to concede."

Since beating his brother David to lead the party ten months ago, Mr Miliband has faced repeated criticism from Conservatives over Labour's financial reliance on the unions.